Over 66 lakh tweets on assembly polls recorded in Oct-Dec

Micro-blogging platform Twitter Tuesday said it has recorded over 66 lakh tweets related to assembly elections in five states between October 1 and December 11.

"From breaking news, to behind the scenes action, to political parties, candidates and citizens engaging on all the hot election topics, Twitter gave Indian citizens a front row seat to the #AssemblyElections2018 across the states of Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana," Twitter said in a statement.

It added that throughout the state elections campaign, politicians and political parties used Twitter to communicate with people all over India.

"The parties' official positions and announcements around policies and key social issues accounted for some of the top-tweeted moments in the past two months as voters went to the polls," it said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi emerged as the top mentioned leaders on Twitter during the assembly elections, Twitter added.

Vasundhara Raje emerged as the top-mentioned candidate in Rajasthan, while KTR was the most refereed candidate in Telangana, Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) and Dr Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh.

Twitter pointed out that among all the INC (Indian National Congress) party handles, @INCMP had the maximum share of voice, while among all the five BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) handles, @BJP4Rajasthan had the maximum share of voice.

"Beyond key national and state voices, Twitter users also participated in dynamic conversations at the grass-root level around the state elections. The rural economy emerged as the most talked-about election-related topic over the past nine weeks," it added.

Other leading conversation topics included religion and caste, EVM and vote tampering, dynastic politics and corruption