Guwahati, April 12: In an unconventional campaign move ahead of the Assam Assembly elections, Ashok Singhal, the Bharatiya Janata Party incumbent from Dhekiajuli, turned to social media to reach voters across his constituency through a large-scale live broadcast initiative.
Singhal, a minister in the government led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, addressed voters on April 5 through a live programme titled “Lakhyadhik Jansampark”, streamed simultaneously on platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. The digital outreach reportedly connected with over one lakh voters across approximately 2,500 locations.
Dhekiajuli, a predominantly rural constituency in Sonitpur district with more than 2.17 lakh registered voters spread over 748 square kilometres, poses logistical challenges for traditional campaigning. To overcome this, the campaign organised multiple viewing points, each drawing around 40 to 50 participants during the live session. Since then, the broadcast has reportedly garnered over 10 lakh views across the constituency and nearby areas.
The strategy was backed by detailed groundwork, with the constituency’s 285 polling booths divided into nearly 2,500 smaller clusters, referred to as “Khandas”, enabling outreach at the household level. Following the digital event, the campaign conducted around 250 in-person rallies across these clusters to reinforce voter engagement.
However, the campaign was not without controversy. The Congress candidate had raised objections during the nomination scrutiny process, alleging discrepancies in Singhal’s nomination papers in a letter to the Returning Officer. The nomination was eventually cleared.
Assam went to the polls on April 9 to elect members to the 126-seat Assembly, with counting scheduled for May 4. The effectiveness of this digital-first campaign strategy will become clear once the results are declared.
