NEPALGUNJ, Nov 7: Election campaigning by political parties has made Surket-based journalist Maya Thapa busy doing voice-overs for the social media publicity material of election candidates.
"I can't turn down requests from candidates for voice-overs for their publicity material. I did voice-overs for two publicity tools today," she said on Monday.
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Political parties and candidates have gone digital, choosing Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and other social media platforms rather than using posters, distributing pamphlets and writing on walls. Candidates and their aides have inundated social media with photos, video and audio material.
NC's candidate for parliament from Jajarkot Rajiv Bikram Shah uploaded a publicity music video on Youtube using a traditional tune, and this has been viewed by over 54,000 visitors so far. Shah appears to be at the forefront in using digital platform for election publicity. He posts photos of his door-to-door campaigning on social media.
Candidates have expedited their electioneering both door to door and via social media. With the Election Commission barring candidates from writing on walls, candidates have taken to social media for the poll campaign.
"We have focused on publicity that can access more people. People now have the opportunity to learn about their candidates while remaining at home," said left alliance candidate from the district Ganesh Prasad Singh.
Poll publicity tools are being circulated through mobile phones in many districts of western Nepal.
NC's provincial assembly candidate from Dang district Janaki Lal Basnet has established a secretariat for his social media campaign. "The era of election posters is gone. The most effective publicity tool in the digital age is social media," he said
CPN (Maoist Center) leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara and CPN-UML leader Shankar Pokhrel have also started posting video on Facebook.
With his rivals already occupying cyberspace with their publicity tools, NC's provincial assembly candidate Kamal Kishor Ghimire is also planning to expedite his digital publicity, hiring some experts for the purpose. "I have been planning to expedite my poll campaign online," he said.
State Minister for Information and Communications Tapta Bahadur Bista has likewise focused on digital publicity instead of continuing with the use of posters, flex prints and pamphlets as in the past. He has also printed his QR code in his pamphlets so that voters can access his digital publicity material by smart phone. "I have tried to modernize my poll publicity, using QR code even in traditional publicity tools," said Bista, a provincial assembly candidate from Surkhet.
NC candidates in Surket Purna Bahadur Khadka and Hridaya Ram Thani and UML's Yamlal Kandel among others have also been using social media for poll publicity.
Surket local Dharma Acharya said he stays updated about the candidates and their campaigns while staying at home.