Guj polls: Parties’ poll SMSes beeped on 1.5 crore mobiles

By the time campaigning for the first phase of assembly elections ended, BJP and Congress together had sent text or voice messages to about one lakh people in each constituency.

In all, 1.50 crore to 1.80 crore messages were sent during the entire elections, at the rate of 20 paise per message. It is estimated that every candidate has spent around Rs20,000 just on text or voice messages sent to voters in his or her constituency.

As per details available up to the first phase, political parties had already sent over 80 lakh messages to voters in the 87 constituencies where elections were held on December 13. In the remaining 95 seats which saw polling on Monday, messages were sent till Saturday which was the last day of campaigning.

Congress’s IT cell sent the messages on behalf of the candidates. “We have been aggressive on social networking sites and mobile applications. We started sending text or voice messages to voters a week before campaigning for Phase-II ended,” said Rohan Gupta, head of IT Cell, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC).

Gupta added that through candidates and friends, they had gathered leads of at least 80,000 mobile numbers in each constituency.

Using an online application, Congress's IT cell sent messages one by one. “We have a team of 25 people in every district. The team at district level managed the social networking sites, as well as the campaigning through text messages,” said Gupta. He further said that they had recorded a voice message of each candidate which was also sent to the voters.

The ruling BJP had also formed an IT cell for the elections. “We too sent voice and text messages to voters but it is done by the candidate himself. Almost every candidate in Gujarat has done this in the elections,” said Rajika Kacheria, head of saffron party’s IT cell.

A few IT companies provide facilities for sending bulk text and voice messages. According to sources, the messages sent by the BJP were routed through a Mumbai-based firm. Congress used a portal created by a Pune-based company to send its messages.

“The charges are 20 paise for sending either voice or text message across the country, if the number of receivers is large. In the elections, the political parties are sending messages to lakhs of people and the tariff is 20 paise per message,” said an official of a company which provides such services.