BJP Official Facebook Page Spends Nearly Rs 4 Crore on Ads Since Feb, Targets West Bengal & Punjab

The BJP’s official Facebook page alone spent almost Rs 4 crore on advertising, more than twice the money than the Congress party has spent, between February and May 11, 2019.

This does not include money spent by other official and ‘non-official’ Facebook pages

Madhumita Dutta reporting for Anandabazar Patrika wrote that till May 16, 2019, BJP had 34 active advertisements. When looked into who is viewing these advertisements, it was found that most viewers were from West Bengal, followed by Punjab.

Trying to get a foothold in Bengal and Punjab

Per the report in the Bengali daily, from February to May 11 the BJP spent Rs 3,97,23,841 on advertisements.

Facebook advertising allows one to target users from a particular region. When the newspaper analysed the data of BJP’s Facebook page, it found that West Bengal and Punjab were given the most importance.

Also Read: RTI, News, Social Media, Cinema: How Narendra Modi Controls The ‘Narrative’ In India

The BJP currently has 2 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal are not in power in both of these states. In Punjab, out of the 13 seats, BJP only has 1. The party is running a high-power polarising campaign in West Bengal, in the hope to set off its projected losses in Uttar Pradesh and other Hindi seats.

Trinamool holds on to its bastion

Anandabazar Patrika reported that the advertisements of Trinamool’s (TMC) official Facebook page are mainly targeting West Bengal users. From February to May 11, the TMC page spent Rs 23,62,622 on advertisements.

Also Read: Facebook Pages Spent Rs 2.5 Crore on Political Ads in 2 Weeks; BJP Leads by Huge Margin

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, political parties had spent almost Rs 250 crore on advertisements spread via social media platforms. However, the newspaper cites experts’ opinion to say that in 2019, this amount will exceed Rs 5,000 crore.