While on the one hand, the CA polls this time around falls just after some of the great festivals -- Dashain, Tihar, Bakar-Eid, Chhath and Nepal Sambat-- social media including facebook was not as widely used for campaigning during the previous CA polls held in April, 2008. As such, poll candidates are found not only using these festivals to garner votes in their favor, but are also making maximum use of social media for poll campaigning. [break]
Social gatherings and other functions organized by the party´s local committees on the eve of Dashain and Bakar-Eid festivals helped the poll candidates seek votes from the public. “Dashain was an opportunity to receive blessings from elders for victory in the upcoming polls and to seek to votes,” NC FPTP candidate from constituency number 8 of Kathmandu Nabindra Raj Joshi told Republica.
Joshi, however, is not an exception. CPN-UML youth leader Yogesh Bhattarai, who is contesting the election from Kathmandu-6 remained equally busy in festive gatherings and posting his pictures on Facebook almost every day. “During this Dashain, I really felt glorified after receiving tika from poet laureate Madhav Ghimire,” Bhattarai wrote along with pictures showing him receiving tika from Ghimire. “Coincidentally, he is a respected voter from my constituency.”
Another UML poll candidate Ghanshyam Khatiwada, who is contesting the polls from constituency number 9 of Morang district, had a similar facebook status. “Dashain celebrations and election campaigning are moving ahead simultaneously,” Khatiwada has written. “Now, Tihar, Chhath, Nepal Sambat and other festivals are coming. But election seems to be the greatest festival this year. My request to you all is to make CPN-UML, the people´s party, victorious in the upcoming polls.”
Most of the poll candidates, including the party´s senior leaders, capitalized the festival as an opportunity to reach out to voters.
While NC President Sushil Koirala, who is contesting the polls from constituency 3 of Banke district, spent most of the time in Nepalgunj celebrating Dashain and Bakar-Eid, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal spent most of his time in his constituency Siraha-5 and Kathmandu-10 till the seventh day of the Dashain festival.
CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal also kept himself busy in his election constituency in Sarlahi and Ilam though he was also involved in finalizing election manifesto and the list of candidates under the proportional representation electoral system. As the election campaign gains momentum by the day, poll candidates are scheduled to reach out to their voters even during the upcoming festivals.
What has, however, remained unique of this election is the use of social media for the publicity of poll candidates. Capitalizing on the social media platform, many candidates contesting the upcoming polls have bolstered their electoral campaigns using facebook instead of traditional means such as flyers, posters and wall paintings.
The candidates, especially of the major political parties, including the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, have not only asked for votes via facebook but also used it as a platform to explain to voters why they should win the election and their party´s policies and programs. Also, parties have started their official facebook pages and their separate websites to make public their plans, policies and election manifestos.
NC youth leader Gagan Thapa, who is contesting election from constituency number 4 of Kathmandu district, has a separate facebook page, which he updates regularly with details of events concerning election campaign. While NC leaders Ram Chandra Poudel, Ram Sharan Mahat and Nara Hari Acharya have their personal website, most other NC leaders including Mahat, Arjun Nara Singh KC, Gagan Thapa, Dhan Raj Gurung, Chandra Bhandari, Badri Pandey have extensively used facebook as a means to reach out to voters as well as well-wishers.
Baburam Bhattarai, Devendra Poudel, Himal Sharma, Post Bahadur Bogati, Barsha Man Pun, Hem Raj Bhandari are among the UCPN (Maoist) leaders who are active in social media. Likewise, Shankar Pokharel, Rabindra Adhikari, Ram Nath Dhakal, Yogesh Bhattarai, Ghanashyam Bhusal, Ghanshyam Khatiwada and Arun Nepal of UML have become more active in social media in recent days as many leaders belonging to various Madhes-based parties, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal and other newly-formed parties.
Although many youth leaders have begun using social media including twitter for election campaign, social media experts say the leaders have not been able to fully exploit the potential that social media offers. “Political parties and leaders concerned do not seem to have realized the strength of social media like facebook yet. Even those using it seem to be using only as means of publicity, but not as a means of communication [with voters],” argued social media expert Ujjwal Acharya.
According to a rough estimate, there are about 3.2 million facebook users in Nepal. While 75 percent of these users belong to 18-35 years age group, most of remaining other users belongs to over 35-year age. “This offers a huge opportunity for poll candidates to reach out to voters, especially the younger generation. It is up to the leaders to seize the opportunity,” added Acharya.
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