With the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) polls coming up on September 11, the student unions are battling it out on the virtual medium.
Backed by their parent political parties, the student unions are now turning to the social media to campaign for their candidates with #ABVProcks and #NSUIthebest trending on Twitter all day on Monday.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) started campaigning on Twitter on Monday using hashtags like #ABVProcks, while the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) used #NSUIthebest. On Sunday, the NSUI used the #NSUI4DUSU hashtag.
ABVP Delhi State Secretary, Saket Bahuguna, said: “We have launched the Twitter campaign to connect better with the students. These days most of students are on Twitter and we thought that by generating support here we will also get an idea about how many people are supporting us.”
“As per our social media analytics team, by the end of Monday there were about 30,000 tweets that were sent out using the hashtag #ABVProcks,” Mr. Bahuguna added.
Media co-ordinator for NSUI, Angellica Aribam said: “Our candidates are making good use of the social media to connect with students. They have been tweeting all day on Monday using the hashtag #NSUIthebest. On Sunday, we used the hashtag #NSUI4DUSU. A lot of students are also tweeting and re-tweeting our tweets. We are getting a good response on social media. The trends will give us an idea on how many people are supporting us.”
“We are going to continue the trend on Tuesday as well. Using the hashtag #NSUImanifesto, we will tweet about the main points in our manifesto,” Ms. Aribam added.
Senior Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Shashi Tharoor also tweeted using the #NSUIthebest hashtag later during the day.
Mr. Maken had earlier extended support to the NSUI after he attended a programme where the candidates were introduced to the media.
As far as the ABVP is concerned, no senior leader has promoted the party on a public platform so far.
The social media team of the BJP, however, is helping the ABVP manage its Twitter campaign.
Convener of the Delhi BJP Samvad Cell, Khemchand Sharma said: “The RSS and BJP have been garnering support for the ABVP. We have also extended support to them in managing their social media campaign.”
