In keeping with the Model Code of Conduct, election raths have come to a halt and loudspeakers have fallen silent ahead of November 17 polling in Madhya Pradesh. But expensive digital campaigns by both BJP and Congress continue on social media sites, particularly Facebook.
News18 has learnt that in the last seven days alone, the Congress has been the top spender on Facebook advertisements if its Telangana and MP campaign expenditures are taken into consideration. The BJP is a close second, but the saffron party tops the list of individual ad money spent on Facebook in India in the last seven days.
Digital Spending Break-Up
The Congress has officially been the top spender on Facebook advertisements at more than Rs 26 lakh in two poll-bound states. The party’s Telangana unit has spent a whopping Rs 13.24 lakh, while its Madhya Pradesh unit has spent Rs 12.84 lakh. Together, it surpasses the BJP’s ad spending. It’s important to note that this is over and above the Congress’s proxy ads on Facebook like the one by ‘Kharge Fan Club’ that has spent more than Rs 4 lakh last week.
The BJP isn’t far behind, having spent almost Rs 26 lakh on Facebook campaigns in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in the last week. The party has Rs 18.89 lakh on ads aimed at voters from Chhattisgarh, while spending marginally above Rs 7 lakh in Rajasthan. Again, this is over and above proxy ads like the one by ‘Akash Vijayvargiya Team’ that has run 30 advertisements on Facebook at a cost of Rs 8 lakh. Akash Vijayvargiya is the son of senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya who is being fielded from Indore this time.
BJP Ahead in Single Ad Spending
However, when it comes to single advertisement campaign expenditure, the BJP has spent the most. The saffron outfit’s 692 Facebook advertisements in Chhattisgarh, where it is trying hard to oust the Bhupesh Baghel government over the alleged Mahadev betting app scam, cost around Rs 18.89 lakh. This is the single largest advertisement expenditure clocked by Facebook India in the last seven days, beating even corporates.
In comparison, the Congress has run 38 such advertisements in the last seven days, aimed at Telangana voters, at a cost of Rs 13.24 lakh, making it the second biggest spender in the category. The Grand Old Party ran 232 advertisements in Madhya Pradesh, where it hopes to dislodge the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, at a cost of Rs 12.84 lakh.
Individual political campaigns like ‘MP ke Mann main Modi’ and ‘Corruptionnath’ have been popping up on Facebook with MP voters as the target audience.
To put things into perspective, Shell Eco Marathon is the first corporate giant that finds a mention at fourth position in Facebook India’s top 10 spenders in the last seven days. It is followed by Goel TMT, an integrated steel production house, at the fifth position.
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