Micro-blogging platform Twitter on Thursday said it has recorded over 48 lakh tweets related to the ongoing assembly elections in five states during October and November.
“With elections currently ongoing in the states of Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, Twitter saw more than 48 lakh tweets in relation to assembly elections over the past two months (October 1 - November 28, 2018),” Twitter said in a statement.
It added that the conversations have continued to peak with over 2.5 lakh tweets posted in 36 hours between November 27-29. “While conversations in India grew with the state elections, people across the world also leveraged Twitter to see what’s happening in India,” it said.
The top hashtags, in term of conversation volume, were #bjp, #congress, #rajasthan, #madhyapradesh and #telangana. Other popular hashtags included #telanganaelections2018, #votebjpsecuremp #madhyapradeshelections, #rajasthanelections2018, #mizoram, #bjp4mp #bjp4telangana and #assemblyelections2018.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s November 26 tweet urging citizens to vote was re-tweeted 3,266 times and received 13,283 likes. A tweet by Congress President Rahul Gandhi on November 18 featuring a video from his press conference was re-tweeted 7,098 times and received 24,018 likes.
“Twitter is where political conversations happen and where you can see all sides of a conversation. The vibrancy of Indian elections is already visible on Twitter,” Twitter India Head of Public Policy and Government, Mahima Kaul, said.
With over four million tweets related to the assembly elections, it’s clear that regional parties and leaders are using the platform to connect with the voters, opinion makers, youth and media, making it the most talked-about Indian state elections on Twitter so far, she added.
The micro-blogging platform has introduced several initiatives to providing real-time updates on campaign trails, connecting voters to politicians and also enabling citizens to have their voices heard during the elections.