Stay connected: Candidates woo voters via SMSes for DUSU polls

Apart from trying to woo potential voters on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, candidates contesting the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) election from both the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students Union of India (NSUI) are trying to connect through SMSes.

Talking about the reason behind adopting the stratergy, state secretary of ABVP Rohit Chahal said, ‘Though candidates are spending a lot of time in trying to connect with voters on a one-to-one basis, it is not possible to reach out and talk to everyone. Sending SMSes helps in establishing an instant connect with the students and telling them about the issues we stand for.’

‘Mobile phones are the best way to reach out to students. Students always carry mobile phones with them. It is the only gadget that people carry with them 24*7. But we are also meeting students at a personal level. We are campaigning in hostels on the campus and also private hostels,’ Chahal added.

Chahal said that with the large-screen mobile phones that students are carrying these days it becomes easier to send them dynamic animated messages which makes the communication process more effective.

NSUI spokesperson Amrish Ranjan Pandey said, ‘Apart from sending direct messages and and creating a Facebook page, we found mobile phones to be an effective way to reach out to the students. The world of digital gadgets is increasing and political campaigning through mobile phones has gone up during this election season. This also means that we would be able to see more political campaigning through messages.’

‘It is a very quick mode of campaigning. We can inform voters instantly and send them reminders to exercise their voting rights. Through this we can inform students about various issues which we are raising while campaigning. We are of course sending them regular updates on Twitter,’ 

Pandey said.