Presence in social media alone won't fetch poll ticket: GVL Narasimha Rao

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao on Sunday said that presence in the social media of ticket seekers alone will not be a sole factor before the party during the selection process of candidates for the Delhi Assembly polls, adding that it could be one of the factors that the party would consider.

"I think there are many considerations, many criteria that go into selection of candidates, in Assembly elections or in Parliamentary elections. It is not based on any one criterion. Presence in the social media is certainly an important attribute atleast in some constituencies in a cosmopolitan city like Delhi. But, presence in the social media and followers in the social media alone is not a factor that could be one of the factors that the party would consider," Rao told ANI here.

The BJP leader further said that the idea of the BJP is to encourage more and more of its leaders to be in live contact with the people all through the time.

"I think it will be wrong to assume that alone would be a dominating factor, I think the idea of the Bharatiya Janata Party is to encourage more and more of its leaders to connect with the masses, to be in live contact with the people all through the time. But somebody who is present in the social media has a 24x7 presence in the media, and therefore, the party is certainly encouraging most of its leaders to be on the social media," he said.

Rao said that there were several other criteria that the party would look into before giving tickets, although he admitted that social media was certainly emerging as one of the important factors.

"I don't think one should really see this as the dominating factor in selection process. It has a lot of factors that will go into mind, individuals own popularity among the people in the constituency, his background, his contribution to the party, association with the party, the kind of services to the people he has delivered in the past, connectivity with the constituents, all these factors would go into selection of a candidate. But, social media is certainly emerging as one of the important factors," he added.

According to media reports, the Delhi unit of the BJP is contemplating to include online presence of ticket seekers as one of the selection criteria for the upcoming polls in the national capital.