Parties’ digital ad-spend increases ahead of polls

New Delhi: As a large part of the election campaign for the five poll bound states has shifted to the digital space because of the Covid-19 restrictions put in place by the Election Commission of India (ECI), political parties are leaving no stones unturned to spend generously on social media to attract the youth voters.
Four out of the five poll bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand have witnessed a sharp rise in their digital ad spends by the political parties in the last 30 days. According to data from social media site Facebook, which is one of the favourite micro blogging sites of the youths in the current times, political parties from Uttar Pradesh are spending most generously in pushing their voices through social media. This is followed by Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand.
The BJP and the Congress are giving a tough competition to each other at least on digital campaigning as per the data in terms of expenditure.
Uttar Pradesh alone has seen political parties spend Rs 3 crore in ads on Facebook in the last 30 days, while the amount in Punjab is over Rs 1.38 crore; Goa Rs 46 lakh; and Uttarakhand over Rs 32 lakh between 27 December 2021 and 27 January 2022.
The BJP remains the most dominant spender on digital ads. The official handles of BJP, “BJP4UP” and “BJP4India” together have spent more than Rs 93 lakh in advertisements through Facebook.
According to Facebook’s ad library, BJP Uttar Pradesh has 574 ads, while BJP India has six ads.
The Congress is not far behind and is the second biggest digital ad spender, with its maximum spending in Punjab. The official handle of the Indian National Congress of Punjab, “INCPunjab” has in the last 30 days spent over Rs 47 lakh 32 thousand in Facebook advertisements. The party also has 715 ads in Facebook’s ad library.
Congress’ Uttar Pradesh campaign slogan released by the party’s “third in command”, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra last year “Ladki hun laad sakti hun” is the third biggest spender on Facebook ads.
The party’s Facebook Page “Ladki hun laad sakti hun”, which was created in September last year has spent around Rs 50 lakh in the last 30 days as part of advertisements through Facebook.
Even in Uttarakhand the Congress is the top spender for digital ads, leaving behind BJP. The Congress in the last 30 days has spent more than Rs 5 lakh on Facebook, while the BJP has spent about Rs 2.5 lakh.
The Congress has multiple other Facebook pages that are running ads for the party. Some pages that are running ads for the Congress include “Hak Punjab Da”, “Punjab Bolda”, “Dhongiaap”, “Fans of Charanjit Channi” amongst others. All these Facebook pages were created between October and December last year. The Congress has the maximum number of pages and ad spends from Punjab. The BJP too has other Facebook pages that are running campaigns for the party on social media (Facebook), some of them are “Modi11”, “Phir Ekbar Modi Sarkar, Uttar Pradesh”, “22in22” for Goa, amongst others. Among the other parties, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is a top spender on digital ads in Goa. On Facebook, the top two ad spenders for Goa are the TMC. The TMC is running two main advertisements for Goa, one in the name of “Goenchi Navi Sakal” and “AITC Goa”. Both these pages together have spent about Rs 23 lakh in the last 30 days. The AAP too has some ads in Goa and Uttarakhand. While in Goa the AAP spent over Rs 3 lakh 39 thousand in the last 30 days in digital ads, in Uttarakhand where it is also contesting elections, the party has spent just about Rs 88,000 in digital campaigns.
Parties like SP and BSP from UP have hardly any presence among digital campaigners. However, some individual candidates from SP, BSP and Akali Dal in Punjab are carrying out their personal campaigns on social media through Facebook.