From supporting candidates to being them, celeb-politicos are an interesting phenomenon. We look at how the new entrants are using Twitter to woo voters.
Bollywood, politics and cricket are three pillars built by the media for sustainable entertainment for all, across the spectrum. This year's election seems to be a mix of all these elements with new celebrity candidates taking upon themselves to build favourable profiles in an attempt to win the constituency they seek to represent. Here we take a look at how they are fairing in the 280-character world of Twitter.
Sunny Deol
Fighting it out for the Gurdaspur seat, Deol's Twitter presence is informative, giving out all the basic information you may need to assess him as a candidate. He has been using Punjabi script liberally, appropriately wooing his constituency. It is also very evident that a major part of his candidature is built of being a part of Prime Minister Modi's team.
Poonam Sinha
With the hope of making her mark in Lucknow for Samajwadi Party, Sinha can be seen visiting a number of places, connecting with people. This, she has used to her strength in her communication over Twitter. Using various creatives, the ideology of her party is well reflected in her tweets, so is the notion that her family wholeheartedly supports her.
Vijendra Singh
Singh has been using Twitter to create a visual narrative based on his visits to different parts of his constituency, South Delhi. The images used show him in a humble form, pretty much contrasting to the aggression of his profession. A significant part of his campaign has been to push the party ideology and practices of Congress, much like a team player.
Dinesh Lal Yadav
A Bhojpuri film actor turned politician, Yadav's profile is yet another with a Chowkidar prefix. His communication over the micro-blogging site reflects how his campaign is largely based on ensuring that Modi returns to power. Images tweeted by him have a deeper meaning and hashtags have been used strategically. He is contesting from Azamgarh.
Mimi Chakraborty
Chakraborty's profile is a mixed bag of an election campaign, her career as a celebrity and her personal life and friendships. Somewhere between these, she can be seen re-tweeting All India Trinamool Congress tweets to show support to the party she is a part of. An interesting aspect of her campaign is the number of support pages that tweet about her.
Prakash Raj
Raj is an independent candidate from Bengaluru who supports and is supported by the Aam Aadmi Party and others. The language used by him in his communication over Twitter, especially capitalisation of certain words in a sentence to create an effect, makes it seem likely that he indeed types it all. It's a plus when it comes to personalisation.
Gautam Gambhir
Joining in the Chowkidar bandwagon, Gambhir doesn't seem to shy away from explicitly and furiously owing his allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Playing to his strength, he has been using his cricketing skills (and sports by extension) to find common ground with the voters of his constituency — East Delhi.
Nusrat Jahan
Jahan's Twitter presence is perhaps one of the most interesting ones. If you were to scroll through, you wouldn't be able to assume that she is a candidate in the ongoing elections. There isn't much to suggest so. The lack of campaigning, however, is made up for by showing full support to Mamta Banerjee and the All India Trinamool Congress.
Urmila Matondkar
Matondkar's campaign is based on her identity as the daughter of Mumbai. With this, she has created fitting rhetoric that goes well with the visuals and imagery that are have been used to extend this identity to a Congress candidate for Mumbai North. The tweets have just the perfect amount of personal touch, generously peppered with Maharashtrian pride.
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