Here’s What It Takes To Be A Congress Candidate In Madhya Pradesh

The Congress Party has mandated that ticket aspirants for Assembly polls must have at least 15,000 likes on Facebook and 5,000 followers on Twitter, The New Indian Express has reported. The Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee has issued a circular making social media presence mandatory for all office-bearers, sitting and aspiring members of legislative assemblies (MLAs). The order was signed by vice-president in-charge of organisation Chandraprabhash Shekhar.

The Information Technology (IT) cell of the party has sought social media details of all Congress office-bearers. It has set 15 September as the submission deadline for compliance in this regard. The party has dismissed charges that the decision could affect candidates from rural areas. The new state Congress IT cell head, Abhay Tiwari, has said, “There is no area where there isn't internet connectivity. Everyone has smartphones and teams who are well versed and active on social media platforms.”

Madhya Pradesh Congress dumped its erstwhile IT cell head, Dharmendra Vajpayee, and brought in Abhay Tiwari due to Kamal Nath’s displeasure with the functioning of the Congress IT cell.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and minister for cooperatives, Vishwas Sarang, has said that Congress’ base on the ground had shrunk and, therefore, a larger social media presence would not impact the party.