Prime Minister Narendra Modi is virtually ruling the roost in digital space ahead of the elections, according to studies, by Buzzoka, an influencer marketing platform, and by SEMrush, a content marketing SaaS platform.

In Buzzoka's Digital India Report Card, digital industry leaders surveyed said they were happy with the current government’s efforts in the digital space. Tracking the ongoing campaigns by two leading parties, 54 per cent respondents in Buzzoka’s study believe the BJP’s Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign was impactful, whereas 65 per cent believe Congress’ Chowkidar Chor Hai campaign was a miss.

SEMrush’s election study noted PM Modi raked in search volumes of 7.24 million in 2018, and 1.82 million in 2019. The study also established Modi as the most active politician on Facebook with a record profile growth of 68.22 per cent between February 2019 and March 2019.

It also found the Indian National Congress managed to steal the limelight after two years as the most searched political party during December 2018. SEMrush also highlighted a decline in the engagement for the Facebook profile of Amit Shah with a negative growth rate of -13.54 per cent. Fernando Angulo, Head of International Partnership at SEMrush said . “With more than 50 per cent of the population under the age of 25, majority of the workforce today is millennials. This population is greatly influenced by the internet and social media, and that makes it crucial for politicians and political parties to connect to voters through these media.”

He added the Facebook post for Pulwama martyrs by PM Modi had recorded engagement of 454,519, “which is exceptionally high.”

SEMrush found from 2018 to 2019, and found Rahul Gandhi was the second most searched politician on online platforms with 1.5 million searches in 2019, followed by Amit Shah, Sonia Gandhi, and Sushma Swaraj. The study also shoed Priyanka Gandhi gained maximum popularity with 1.22 million searches for 2019 compared with of 701,000 in 2018. Meanwhile, 91 per cent of those surveyed by Buzzoka agreed that digital media has the power to influence voter perception in India. Modi and the BJP were considered to be the most active on social media.

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