Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress’ digital campaign ‘Banglar Gorbo Mamata’ has spent Rs 80.74 lakh for advertising on Facebook in a month's time, Exchange4Media reported. The amount was spent on 90 advertisements on the social media platform.
This comes at a time when the election campaign in West Bengal is picking up pace ahead of the Legislative Assembly polls. The ruling TMC’s assembly game plan is being handled by election strategist Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC).
Banerjee’s party has been very active on Facebook since December 2020 and has spent nearly Rs 1.4 crore on Facebook ads since then, the report suggested.
The 'Banglar Gorbo Mamata’ verified page on Facebook has more 27.45 lakh 'likes' and is 'followed' by over 27.66 lakh accounts.
The increased spending on Facebook ads ahead of the election is part of an overall strategy to grab voters’ eyeballs and reach out to people on social media and digital platforms.
Other parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are also loosening their wallets on Facebook. The news report cites Facebook Ad Library data to suggest that BJP spent Rs 3.85 lakh on adverts on the platform during the last 30 days.
BJPs’ ‘Amar Poribar BJP Poribar’ page is one of the highest spenders from Bengal on Facebook, the report added. The unverified Facebook page has 1.56 lakh 'likes' and 1.58 lakh followers.
With most political parties increasing spending on Facebook ads, the state saw around Rs 1.29 crore splurged on the social media platform.
West Bengal will head for polling in eight phases starting from March 27. The counting of votes will take place on May 2 along with Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.
