Poll agencies not feasible in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Poll guru Prashant Kishore may have said no to Kerala Assembly elections, but mainstream political parties are devising their own strategies to woo voters including high voltage campaign on the social networking sites.

The major political parties believe that the voter here is highly politicised and cannot be influenced high profile campaigns of poll agencies. However, they do feel the necessity to have in house mechanism for wooing new generation voters.

Congress MLA V T Balaram says professional campaigns are crucial especially among the first time voters. “About 15,000 new voters have been registered in each constituency. With the margin of victory in most constituencies being just 2000 to 5000, this group can make or mar the chances of candidates," he said.

He says young voters are politically conditioned by the negative campaign unleashed on prime time news. “We were in government for five years. Many positives things are to be conveyed which the traditional media ignores. The young voter gets influenced by negative news so we need to counter these using social networking sites,” he added.

Experts feel private agencies can only have a marginal impact on voters in the state. “Majority of  40 plus group have clear political views. But 90 per cent of the middle class youth is not politicised. They spent a lot of time on social networking sites. I think the parties will have to think beyond traditional ways to reach out to them,” said political analyst Prof J Prabhash.

Most political parties are of the view that engaging big agencies at a huge cost is not financially feasible. CPI(M) , Congress, BJP, Muslim League, CPI have already set up their digitial media units. IT professionals who are sympathisers of these parties are helping out with campaign on a voluntary basis.

“We have formed our own group comprising professionals, volunteers and friends who are active on social networking sites, ” said Balram. CPI MLA V S Sunil Kumar said the UDF Government had already spent close to Rs 100 crore to showcase its achievements through advertisements and hoardings. “Our party cannot afford to hire private agencies. But we are managing our digital campaign with the help of IT professionals,” he said.

The CPM has its own mechanism to seek Feedback from the people about the performance of its legislators. The party is also planning direct outreach campaigns like knocking at every door.