India was granted independence from colonial rule that had dominated its historical trajectory for over 200 years. The Constituent Assembly under Rajendra Prasad had met on August 14, 1947, to decide upon the national flag and emblem. Yet, freedom assumed a myriad of meanings for its masses. The Indian National Congress was in power and the elections were contested by the Kisan Mazdoor Party, whose founder was JB Kriplani, who accused the party of not offering support to the poor.
Nehru addressed a rally at Ludhiana, whereby he talked of violence during Partition and hinged on issues such as casteism, which he knew would mobilise the masses. He persuaded his voters to say ‘Jai Hind’, which propounded his voters that were citizens of this new nation (Guha, 2002).
Electioneering can be defined as campaigning to persuade voters in favour of a particular candidate, utilising blogs as a platform to disseminate information about a candidate, and even raising funds to materialise the election. At the end of the day, it is essential that a democracy encourages competition between candidates — one amongst the many forms of political pluralism. On the other hand, the nomenclature of populism can be clearly defined as unmediated communication between leaders and the people, as well as the imagery of the leader himself (Sinha, 2017).
In addition, the suspended model of electioneering denies the claim that democratic concepts have the ability to convey the truth to the voters. Voters must be informed about the problems and issues that concern them, as only then can they reach the decision of choosing the right candidate. Candidates hurl speeches that would provide evidence to their claims. However, they are filled with ambiguity as it benefits the politicians and makes the voter’s decision more difficult.
Many even espouse negative campaigning that leads to both the candidates attacking each other on the premise of breaking a promise (Beerbohm, 2015). Bob Mead, White House Advisor, states that communication is the foundation of a political campaign. With the emergence of social media platforms, candidates have the ability to have a greater mass outreach. These theoretical tools allows one to examine what the foundation of a political campaign is.
Tools Of Political Campaigns: A Comparative Study Between America And India
It was in the 1920s when radio was employed by Presidential candidate to propagate themselves and their campaign to communicate why must their party be voted to power. Franklin Roosevelt utilised this to convey about his policies and gained authority over the news. The year 1968 can be perceived as a phase of transition whereby the Cold War that divided the world into two was ongoing, the assassination of Martin Luther Jr. and Senior Robert F Kennedy took place in the same year.
American citizens were just beginning to witness the development of a nation-state. Television soon dominated the scenario as two major candidates used it to manipulate public opinion. The Presidential debate between Nixon and Kennedy was aired when 74 million Americans remained glued to their screen. Four million Americans decided their vote as a result of the debate. The candidate’s appearance played a crucial in swaying the voters’ mind.
A comparative case study must be highlighted to argue how the 2016 United States Presidential Election employed Twitter, Facebook, blogging and YouTube to its advantage. The candidates have used social media to declare of their presidential bids. The Senator of the United States, Ted Cruz officially made the announcement on Twitter along with which, a video was posted, whereas Hillary Clinton did so in YouTube and her campaign website on Twitter that was viewed more than three million times within a hour of posting it.
Reddit and Snapchat only make this experience a personalised one as communication deepens between candidates and the masses. This leads to high political engagement. American adults, it is believed had learned about 2016 presidential election from social media platforms rather than print and broadcast media. Donald Trump deployed strategies of retweeting ordinary people as analysed by Pew Research Study Research Center (Ekuweme and Folarin, 2007). The USA Presidential Elections of 2020 witnessed the victory of the Democrat, Joe Biden and majorly the electioneering was conducted by the Senator, Kamala Harris. In fact, both Trump and Biden mobilised the social media, although the latter employed influencers as well. Celebrity promotion is a pertinent part of electioneering. The reason small scale influencers are chosen is because they form a bond with the local community.
A similar trend can be noticed in India when we talk about tools of electioneering. The Bharatiya Janata Party won a landslide victory in 2015. Narendra Modi’s imagery propagated during the political campaign had a pivotal role in molding the minds of Indian voters. Firstly, he harnessed the imagery of Gujarat as one of the Indian states to be on the list of World Bank’s Good Governance. Modi criticised the UPA government for engaging in friendly relations with Pakistan during the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 and argued that he would alter this trajectory in the Television show of Aap ki Adalat (The People’s Court) hosted by Rajat Sharma.
By 2012, he became active on Twitter, whereby he openly tweeted against and charged the UPA government for corruption. He interacted with Bollywood celebrities that led him to strengthen his voter base. Religious dichotomisation was at the core of his campaign. The Home Minister, Amit Shah, commented that if the BJP would be voted back in power, he would amend citizenship laws, utilised hate speech, engaged in tactics such as classification and dehumanisation to enhance divisiveness between both the communities. If Modi could persuade the Hindus on the basis of caste, class and religion, the end result would be remaining in power. However, the rise of Modi to the position of Prime Minister was only possible through social media, which allowed him to appeal to India’s youth.
In 2019, the ruling party succeeded in securing a second term with a full majority, yet again. While those on the grassroots-level political operatives have a direct linkage to voters and mobilise support on the ground, those on social media platforms have gained followers for political parties. The 2020 Bihar elections increasingly emerged as the site of politicisation of the demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, as both BJP and JD(U) engaged in this narrative. The former argued that his death was not investigated in a fair manner.
The BJP cultural cell had designed posters with a message that his death will not be forgotten. Not only that, masks were made for the same purpose. The BJP, for a long time, has been attempting to make for itself a place in the Rajput community and this has only accelerated this desire. The Hindustan Awam Morche even went far to demand a Padma Award for the late actor.
Nevertheless, electoral spending is rather extravagant as one can cite the 2019 elections that have been most considered as the most expensive. Most candidates, it is believed, have been beneficiaries of illicit funding. Multinational corporations donate huge amounts of money with the aim of having an opinion in the party’s decision making process. The Election Commission has equally been blamed for supporting Narendra Modi and not charging them when code of conduct had been violated. The Commission had barred the usage of armed forces on adverts, whereas the BJP featured posters of the Wing Commander, Abhinandan Varthaman which was not criticised at all. The Election Commission had cleared speeches but Modi had commented that Rahul Gandhi was contesting from Wayanand because of minority politics.
However, when one analyses the success of these promises, limitations can only been drawn. The unemployment rate has only increased, with Covid-19 accentuating this situation. On the other hand, the Gross Domestic Product has experienced a contraction under the BJP-led government. In terms of security, attacks have risen on India, whether it is Pulwama or Ladakh to cite as examples. Women’s safety is a harping problem which has deteriorated under this government. Justice has been a long lost cause that the opposition government has been accusing the ruling government of. During 2015, 9,511 cases were registered, which rose steadily to 9,839 by 2016 and 11,370 in 2017, as cited in National Crime Records Bureau.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that free and fair elections are a long lost dream in the Indian democracy. The Election Commission has certainly lost its credibility over the years as it has been complicit in supporting the ruling party. However, social media has emerged as a platform for contestation of its candidates who mobilise this to reach a wider public. Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that the political parties engage in distributing cash or other freebies as they profoundly feel this can attract the voters, mainly those that belong from backward classes. Electoral campaigns are now pinned on these factors that raise the question of transparency.