DMK, AIADMK using SMS, Facebook to woo voters

Chennai, Mar 10: Political parties in Tamil Nadu are using Internet and SMS (short message service) for campaigning in the upcoming Assembly elections.

The leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) said they are trying to spread the achievements of their leaders, and the welfare programmes launched by their party with the help of Internet and text services.

"For the coming elections, we are campaigning through SMS by messaging the achievements of our leaders to the general public, like providing of ambulance facility, insurance programmes, free gas stove programme, free land for the poor, and other projects. We are getting good response," said K. Gunasekar, a DMK leader.

Meanwhile, leaders of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) said with the help of Internet and SMS services, they are trying to spread information among people about the failures of the DMK government.

"People are being made aware about the bad functioning of the DMK government, like the 2G spectrum scam, price-rise and all other anti-people activities through SMS. These kinds of SMS campaigns are useful," said V. Singamarm, a leader of AIADMK.

People have noted both parties are trying to woo voters by showcasing their achievements, and the failures of their rivals.

"I am a very regular customer to the Internet surfing and browsing and recently I have come across a lot of campaign by DMK on Facebook as well as the AIADMK. Both the parties have lifted their campaign on online sector. The campaign put forth by the DMK exhibits all their achievements in the last tenure of five years," said Thirumurugan, a resident.

The polls to the 234-member Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly will take place on Apr 13.