New Delhi: For the first time the general election is being fought online, at least for some net savvy politicians who are on Twitter. Some of them are not new to politics. They may be new to Twitter. Some of them are social media veterans, but new to politics. Even the Left front leaders, the CPM, the DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and heir apparent M K Stalin have joined Twitter and Facebook to woo young, educated voters this time.
Here is a list of some top twitteratis contesting the Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP's prime ministerial nominee and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi tops the list. Modi, one of the earliest politicians to join the social media has a whopping 35.5 lakh followers on Twitter. On an average he tweets 10-12 times a day. Mostly about his programmes for the day and some other subject related to governance or politics. He also has twitter handles in many other Indian languages.
His rival in Varanasi Lok Sabha seat and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal is also very active on Twitter. He has 15 lakh followers on Twitter. Kejriwal also tweets 15-20 times day, mostly on the AAP and other related issues.
The Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi or his mother and the Congress President Sonia Gandhi are not on the social media. Union Minister and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor leads the Congress race on Twitter. Tharoor, who is seeking a re-election, has more than 21 lakh followers on Twitter. He normally tweets on his campaign and posts a lot of pictures of him interacting with the voters.
Actress and model Gul Panag, who is contesting from Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat on an AAP ticket has over 8 lakh followers on Twitter. Her BJP rival Kirron Kher seems to be away from the Twitter for over a year.
Infosys co-founder and the Congress candidate from Bangalore South Nandan Nilekani is a new entrant to both Twitter and politics. Nilekani, who joined Twitter in last October, has 88,000 followers. He also regularly tweets on his campaign and other issues related to governance. His rival and the BJP's five time MP Ananth Kumar has just 22,000 followers on Twitter. Nilekani has beaten Ananth Kumar at least in Twitter war!
Union Minister Kapil Sibal is also a new entrant in the Twitter bandwagon. Sibal, who is seeking a third straight term from Chandni Chowk has over 77,000 followers on Twitter. His rival and AAP candidate Ashutosh has 1.45 lakh followers on Twitter. The AAP candidate from Ghaziabad Shazia Ilmi has more than 93,000 followers on Twitter.
Two top leaders of the BJP, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley have been on Twitter for quiet sometime. Sushma Swaraj who is contesting from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh has over 9.80 lakh followers on Twitter. Her open revolt on Twitter against the induction of B Sriramulu of Bellary Reddy's party made it to headlines last week.
Arun Jaitley, who is contesting in a Lok Sabha election for the first time has 1.46 lakh followers on Twitter. He is contesting from Amritsar in Punjab.
The BJP national president Rajnath Singh who is contesting from Lucknow has 2 lakh followers on Twitter. He is also new to Twitter.
The BJD MP from Kendrapara Baijayant Jay Panda or Jay Panda has been very active on Twitter for a long time. He has 50,000 followers. South Mumbai Congress MP and Union minister Milind Deora has 1.24 lakh followers on Twitter.
Famous Kannada film actress and the Congress MP from Mandya Ramya has over 2.22 lakh followers on Twitter. Former Karnataka chief minister and the BJP candidate from Shimoga B S Yeddyurappa has recently joined Twitter. He has over 5000 followers. Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari who is contesting from Nagpur has over 6000 followers. Like Arun Jaitley, it is his first Lok Sabha election for Gadkari too.
Most of these Twitter politicos are tweeting furiously to stay ahead of their rivals at least in the virtual world.
Shashi Tharoor 2.12 Million
Gul Panag - 8 lakh
Narendra Modi - 3.55 Million
Arvind Kejriwal - 1.51 Million
Nandan Nilekani - 88,000
Kapil Sibal - 77.8K
Ashutosh - 145K
Shazia Ilmi - 93.3K
Sushma Swaraj - 980K
Arun Jaitley - 146K
Jay Panda - 50K
Milind Deora - 124K
Ramya - 222K
Comments
0 comment