Technology is one of the key components of the elections strategy for UP elections for the BJP. PM Narendra Modi is the war head of the campaign. “Optimisation is one of the focus areas of the tech team and the leaders is one of the key team members of the Prashant Kishore team who was with Modi in 2014.
BJP in UP is concentrating for 350 seats to win a minimum of 250 seats. There are 403 assembly seats in the UP. This is the main strategy being adopted by the BJP in the elections here in UP.
Tried and tested party men complement the tech-savvy young members of the war room.
JPS Rathore , the BJP state vice-president, is the head of the poll management team. He says the party is focusing on upper castes, non-Yadav OBC and non-Jatav SC communities. Rathore believes the absence of a CM-face will not adversely affect the BJP’s fortunes in the state.
Govind Shukla, is the publicity in-charge. For him, the strategy is two pronged: Attack the ruling Samajwadi Party in a big way on host of issues including law and order and farmers’ woes, and give out BJP promises in small doses. Add the main course of Modi meetings when necessary.
For Shukla, the party’s trump card is a combination of several things: the party symbol, PM Modi and known faces in the state leadership. Some 400 vans are criss-crossing the state beaming audio-visual campaign kits to deliver the party’s message at the doorstep of voters.
Tech strategy for BJP in UPTech strategy for BJP in UP
The election war room has an IT cell, headed by Sanjai Rai, a former ABVP national secretary, who takes pride in the party’s online presence.
“Please mention reach and not likes because likes can be promoted or bought,” he points out, emphasising the BJP’s Facebook page has a reach of more than one crore.
The cell sends out at least four WhatsApp messages to seven mobile numbers ever day, which Rai says get multiplied and eventually reach more than 5 lakh people.
The cell also seeks to ensure that at least two hashtags trend every week. Rai is confident that the war room will facilitate BJP’s victory in the electoral battle.
