rahul gandhi
Congress President Rahul Gandhi.Reuters

A letter issued by Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) to its workers, specifies that ticket aspirants in elections must have a strong social media following. The party has made it mandatory for its leaders to have Twitter and Facebook accounts and not just a compulsory social media presence.

The letter, that has made its way to social media now, has listed several other criteria for the candidates in the upcoming polls. According to CNN News18, the leaders have also been asked to ensure that they have at least 15,000 likes on Facebook, 5,000 followers on Twitter and also be part of several WhatsApp groups. The leaders have also been asked to retweet and like all posts of Madhya Pradesh Congress and share the posts from the official party page on their own pages.

The leaders have been asked to submit details of their social media handles to Congress by September 15 if they want their names to be considered for nomination for tickets in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.

The BJP's state information technology (IT) cell in-charge Shivraj Singh Dabi had said about 65,000 'cyber warriors' have been deployed by the party while the Congress has set up a team of around 4,000 'Rajiv Ke Sipahi' to battle it out on social media. Shedding light on the BJP's strategy, Dabi told The New Indian Express, "We are going to be doubly active on WhatsApp as it's the biggest communication tool, especially to reach out to commoners and villagers."

Sources claim that both the parties are leaving no stones unturned to reach out to people through Facebook, Twitter with a special focus on WhatsApp, owing to its wide reach. "During elections, our biggest weapon is going to be WhatsApp," Congress state party's IT cell in-charge, Dharmendra Bajpai said.

The Congress and the BJP have been claiming that through the use of social media, they would try to dispel misunderstandings and false propaganda of their rivals in the run-up to the state polls.