The BJP may not have notched up the numbers it was targeting, but its star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the most mentioned personality during the elections, according to Twitter India.

The microblogging site said Modi’s @narendramodi handle, with 3 million mentions, was the most mentioned between April 25 and May 15.

Twitter saw a similar number of tweets related to the Karnataka elections.

“Over the past few weeks, our data shows more than three million tweets related to the Karnataka elections, making it one of the most discussed State elections,” said Mahima Kaul, Head of Public Policy & Government, Twitter India.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi figured in the top ten re-tweeted tweets with regard to the elections.

Ironically, outgoing Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is now being blamed for the Congress’ defeat, got a thumbs-up for his ‘pull no punches’ attitude on social media. According to Twitter, he was the most mentioned candidate during the elections.

In comparison, during the Gujarat elections last year, around 1.9 million tweets were posted on the social media platform from December 1-18. Modi was the most-mentioned personality during those elections, too, while Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was the candidate with the most mentions.

Throughout the Karnataka campaign, the BJP’s official handle, @BJP4Karnataka, got 51 per cent of the share of voices on Twitter, while the Congress’ @INCKarnataka came close with 42 per cent. The Janata Dal (Secular), which is proving to be the ‘king’ and not ‘kingmaker’, had seven per cent of mentions, signalling that social media influence is still restricted to the urban voters in Bengaluru. JD(S) won most of its seats in the Old Mysuru belt.

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