Social media may be the easiest way to reach out to the masses but several poll veterans in the city still swear by tradition.
Much like Krishna Tirath, his counterpart from North West Delhi, South Delhi MP Ramesh Kumar also does not use Twitter or Facebook.
Though the parliamentary seat includes 10 Assembly constituencies with several localities falling on the outskirts of the city, Kumar says walking through the lanes still garners more votes than flashing messages on the internet.
His competitor, BJP candidate Ramesh Bidhuri, also does not engage people on social media though his team has finally started posting photographs of his padyatra on Facebook. While Bidhuri said it was just a matter of time before he became active on social media, Kumar was certain he would not use it at all. “I have not started using Twitter or any other social media. I don’t think there is any use of it. I am a grassroots person and believe in meeting people personally. I have been going into villages and colonies myself and people are happy,” Kumar said.
Bidhuri, on the other hand, posts pictures of his daily activities on Facebook and then posts the link on his Twitter account. This is in contrast to AAP candidate Colonel Devinder Sehrawat’s campaign style, who is very active on social networking sites and uploads pictures in real-time and information from his campaigns and also shares his opinions.
{{/usCountry}}Bidhuri, on the other hand, posts pictures of his daily activities on Facebook and then posts the link on his Twitter account. This is in contrast to AAP candidate Colonel Devinder Sehrawat’s campaign style, who is very active on social networking sites and uploads pictures in real-time and information from his campaigns and also shares his opinions.
{{/usCountry}}If numbers are anything to go by, Bidhuri has 112 followers on Twitter and there were 124 tweets from his account till Sunday evening. Sehrawat, however, has 2,748 people following him with 1,219 tweets from his account. “Colonel Sehrawat has a dedicated team for social media. It includes a professional cameraman and another guy working with a software giant. They both work with him as volunteers,” said a party worker engaged in handling Sehrawat’s campaign.
AAP may be exploiting social media as much as it can, but workers from other parties in the area think it might not help at all. “There are less than two lakh votes in urban areas like Vasant Kunj and Kalkaji. However, there are 52 villages and many unauthorised colonies where people do not use social media at all,” said a Congress worker.