KATHMANDU, Nepal – At a time when the whole country is gripped in the election fever with the results coming in, it is noticed that the leaders using social media sites for election campaigning have acquired a remarkable votes.
Unlike previous elections, leaders affiliated to various political parties have used the forum of social media sites like youtube, facebook, twitter among others to make their plans and manifesto public during this Constituent Assembly Elections held on November 19, 2013.
Gagan Thapa, a Nepali Congress youth leader, who is waiting for the final results of his constituency Kathmandu No. 4, shared his feeling with a daily newspaper that, “This shows that I obtained votes not only from the Nepali Congress cadres and loyalists” . “All those, who want change, have voted for me, thinking that I can be the change agent,” said Thapa who is a strong winning candidate for the constituency, adding, all those who love peace, liberty and democracy have voted him and his voters’ active interaction at the social media have raised this level of confidence in him.
Thapa ran a vibrant social media campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. One of the rap songs on Youtube, by Girish — “Vote for Gagan Thapa” — had more than 54,000 viewers. His campaign won hearts and minds of the youth. “Whoever is @thapagk’s digital campaign manager, gajjab!!” tweeted Nisa Panday.
Dozens of his speeches were uploaded on Youtube. The speech he delivered in Kapan on November 9 was viewed more than 90,000 times. One of the supporters @Sbasnyet said, “Gagan has “brilliant oratory skills and that’s because @thapagk grasps issues and has a solid work record to draw from.”
Likewise, Rabindra Adhikari of CPN-UML, who has recently been declared winner from the Kaski Constituency No. 3, was also the active user of social media sites before, during and after elections. Soon after the elections and victory, Adhikari have posted a thank note to his voters and followers for their support.
In the same way, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, a senior Unified CPN (Maoist) leader, was also at the forefront of social sites campaigning. He had uploaded his all major events during campaigning and speeches in his facebook and twitter posts.
Also, Kamal Thapa, Chairman of RPP-Nepal, has used the forum to share his party agendas and manifesto. Thapa, known as pro-monarchist campaigner is expected to garner a major junk of votes in proportional system.
Likewise, independent candidates like Santosh Pradhan from Kathmandu Constituency No.4, Ujwal Thapa among others have also posted their feelings and their party’s manifesto through the social sites. Thapa in his latest facebook post has shared his happiness for garnering over 1000 votes. “Crossed 1000+ votes milestone still 5th after congress, uml, rpp nepal, ucpn-Maoist. Every party cadres, observers and election officials there surprised that an independent candidate is one of the 5 major forces in Kathmandu-5 in one of the biggest voter base of Nepal,” Thapa posted.
