Vijayapura: Now that smart phones are available even in rural areas and a majority of villagers have learnt how to use social media, the candidates contesting in the upcoming Gram Panchayat elections are now using online platforms for their campaign.
The usage of smart phones has become an important tool for rural politicians to reach their voters. The candidates are using various social media sites to urge the electorate to vote for them.
Since campaigning is almost free with the use of smartphones, they upload videos on social media platforms like WhatsApp and are circulating them among the voters through different groups.
This way, the candidates can reach the voters quickly and easily.
While they have also adopted traditional methods of campaigning such as distributing pamphlets and going door-to-door, technology has come in handy for rural candidates and the voters.
“Since almost everyone in the rural areas, mostly the youth are using smartphones and villages have an internet connection, it has become a boon for candidates like us to campaign. I am already using this to spread my message among the voters,” said Sajid Inamdar, a candidate in the Managuli village.
This 38-year-old graduate, who took to farming after his education, said that the older candidates are also using the same technology to campaign. For his campaign, Sajid either takes selfie videos or sometimes asks his friends to record. “This technology has surely reduced our work. No doubt, many traditional people still want candidates to personally visit them, but many of them do not bother as they get most of the details on their phones,” he said.
“Some older candidates do not know how to use smartphones, but they are aware of the importance and enlist the help of their relatives to record videos and circulate among the voters,” he added.
