The recent comments and mudslinging have once again exposed how vulnerable our society is.
Leaders of all political parties are leaving no stone unturned to woo communities in their favour as the last leg of campaigning begins.
While campaigning, and canvassing are one part of the actual elections seem to be fought on social media where there seem to be no restrictions on foul and divisive language.
With technological sophistication added to this, we are now far more vulnerable to destructive forces.
The advent of technology…
India epitomizes the global communication technology revolution. In the early 1990s, there were only an estimated six landline phones for every 1,000 Indians and the waiting time for a new phone connection was measured not in days or weeks, but months.
Today, smartphones—the primary devices Indians use to access the internet and social media—can be purchased over the counter within minutes and their presence is ubiquitous.
This transformation is further enabled by the affordability of mobile data in India, which has some of the cheapest rates in the world. By the end of 2022, roughly two-thirds of the Indian population will be using smartphones, and by 2026, it is predicted the country will be home to one billion smartphone users. In recent years, India’s political parties have increasingly turned to social media and the messaging app WhatsApp in their campaigns, leading observers to characterize the 2019 parliamentary election as “the WhatsApp election.”
Social media is affordable…
However, alongside the proliferation of smartphone usage, which allows for low-cost party-voter communication, India’s parties continue to conduct mass in-person campaign rallies during election season.
For instance, prior to India’s 2019 national general election, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian National Congress’s (INC, also known as the Congress Party) Rahul Gandhi each addressed around 140 in-person rallies during the official two-month campaign.
These were accompanied by even more rallies featuring other high-level leaders (or “star campaigners,” as they are known in Indian parlance) in the run-up to the April–May general elections.
Already, we are witnessing a blitz of anti and pro-political campaigns on our smartphones for the 2019 general elections. Advertising experts and industry leaders are betting on the overall expenditure of the campaigns worth Rs. 5,000 crore.
The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party is already spending quite a bit on advancing ‘Brand Modi’ in terms of achievements of his government in the last four years, all campaigns undertaken by the BJP and its several ministries and departments have revolved around NaMo. The main opposition Congress is also likely to spend close to Rs 1,500-2,000 crore on mass media and other Rs. 400-500 crore on digital campaigns.
We cannot ignore the fact that politics and media share a complex synergistic relationship; media, politics and elections are knotted together and social media platforms have become the essential ground for the discussion of political narratives.
As per the Election Commission records India has 81.5 crore voters, among them are BJP volunteers and workers who are trained in social media.
They all are armed with a Smartphone. What a fantastic strategy. The 2024 election is underway and already a few lakh volunteers are working. However, the political parties are looking for many more as they need to penetrate their campaigns in interior parts of India which is too vast. Parties are organizing a spree of meetings to boost their social media campaigns.
It has become a big task for the Election Commission of India; they have set a panel to scrutinize the growing use of social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube.
The panel has recommended processes to deal with violations. The nation has seen a rise in religious and ethnic tensions in recent times; few people are killed due to rumours spread on social media about child kidnappings, rapes and cow smuggling.
Fake news and paid news are matters of concern and misuse on social media. The Election Commission of India is tightening rules and regulations to plug loopholes in the forthcoming general election.
Action against social media trolls & abuses…
Fundamental questions of what should be legal and illegal in digital political communication have yet to be answered in order to extend the rule of electoral law from the offline to the online.
A savvy person or political party looking to discredit online critics doesn’t need to ban their speech to hamstring it. Instead, they can respond with a deluge of false or misleading information, making it very hard for ordinary citizens to figure out what’s actually going on.
It is easier to spread misinformation on social media than to correct it, and easier to inflame social divisions than to mend them. The very nature of how we engage with Facebook and the rest now helps far-right, authoritarian factions weaken the foundations of democratic systems — and even give themselves an easier pathway to seizing power.
It seems we have to admit a somewhat uncomfortable truth: Social media, in the way that it’s used now, is an authoritarian medium.
[12:11 PM, 4/25/2024] Suraj Madarekar: 2
[12:14 PM, 4/25/2024] Suraj Madarekar: Goa: Rs 16.66 cr worth of drugs, cash,
precious metals seized since the start of MCC
Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Following the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for elections, the enforcement agencies in Goa have confiscated drugs, alcohol, and freebies valued at Rs 16.66 crore.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) reported in an official statement that it had seized drugs valued at Rs 54,6 lakh. Methamphetamine (532 grams), cannabis crop (500 grams), and ganja (10 grams) were among the drugs found.
293.44 litres of liquor valued at Rs 71,572 were seized by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), and 549 grams of gold valued at Rs 3,25,579 and a Thuraya Satellite phone valued at Rs 76,488 were seized by Goa Customs.
The Excise Department seized liquor valued at Rs 3.43 crore, totalling 62,949.094 litres. Cash totalling Rs 4.6 crore and precious metal weighing 3,968.09 grams, valued at Rs 3.03 crore, were seized by the Income Tax Department.
The Police Department confiscated Rs 9,07,315, 30,546 in cash.49.316 gm of drugs worth Rs 2.46 crore, 78 mobile phones worth roughly Rs 5 lakh, and 78 litres of liquor valued at Rs 74,40,435.
The State Goods and Service Tax (Commercial Tax) Department seized 1,39,909 freebie items valued at Rs 1.35 crore.
Between March 16, 2024, and April 22, 2024, a total of 16,65,52,572 seizures were made.
