Srinagar, Aug 20: Even as uncertainty looms large over the prospects of Assembly Elections in Jammu and Kashmir, major political parties have expanded their presence in social media spaces and are seemingly gearing up for a full-fledged digital outreach to the people.
To begin with, key political parties like the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party have set-up full-fledged social media cells to expand their outreach, mobilise public opinion and, particularly, engage with the young population.
On July 9 this year, National Conference appointed its former additional spokesman Sara Hayat Shah as head of its social media cell.
The Peoples Democratic Party has also appointed social media in-charges at district- level to reach out to the people.
Last week, Peoples Conference also appointed its youth leader Mudasir Karim as head of the party’s social media cell. The Congress, which has fared badly in J&K’s electoral politics since 2014, is also not lagging behind the regional parties. The party has also appointed Kadfeen Choudhary as head of its social media cell.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman, Najam-us-Saqib told KNO the social media helps the party leaderships to speak directly with the worker as well as the common people without any filtration.
Talking to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), NC’s vice-president for Kashmir province, Ahson Pardesi said the party has constituted a full-fledged social media team to connect with the people.
“In the present time, almost everybody uses social media. Thus, the party constituted the team to reach out to the people. It is good to use social media platforms for strengthening the party,” he said.
PC spokesman Adnan Ashraf Mir said that social media is a new age medium to reach out to the general audience. “It is a specialized way of communication,” he said.
Kadfeen Choudhary said the party has been using this platform to expose the fake promises made by the government to the people.
“It is the only way to reach out to the people to show them how they are being misled ,” he said, adding that it is the best medium to reach out to the people.
—(With KNO inputs. The headline is by Ziraat Times)
