“You all know that I am from Nizamabad. I am going to share changes and developments in my village. Government school renovation, water tank renovation, roads, bridges, hospitals have undergone changes. If these changes happened in the last 5-10 years, it is only because of the KCR government. Not just in Nizamabad, this kind of development has happened across the state,” says actor Sreemukhi in a testimonial-like video on Instagram that urges voters to elect the Bharat Rashtra Samithi. 

She isn’t the only one engaging in surrogate promotion for Telangana’s incumbent party that is seeking a re-election. If there is one party that has practically taken over social media during the campaigning for the Telangana Assembly polls, it is the BRS. 

The News Minute has learnt that BRS has engaged at least 250 such social media ‘influencers’ and celebrities to promote its campaign with the hashtag #EtlundeTelanganaEtlaindiTelangana. Several social media stars started using this hashtag to praise the supposed development and growth of Telangana under Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

Along with Sreemukhi, other celebs endorsing the government include singer Sravana Bhargavi, actor Hariteja, anchor Savithri and Bigg Boss contestant Mehboob Sheik. Sravana Bhargavi says Hyderabad has become unrecognisable in the last 10 years, and lists five places one must visit in the city. “How Telangana has changed in the last 10 years! All this was possible because we had the best government,” she concluded.

Though it is unclear if any of these celebrities were paid, there are scores of others doing similar videos, mainly on Instagram, but with no disclosure that this was a paid advertisement. This campaign has also thrown a huge challenge to the Election Commission of India on whether social media campaigns must be regulated. 

TNM has learnt that the BRS has hired a creative advertising agency that engages social media influencers. Since candidates are allowed to spend only Rs 40 lakh for campaigning purposes, the party is spending the money on these surrogate ads. “Since there are no restrictions on how much the party can spend, these bills are footed by the party,” a BRS source said.

The influencers are also told not to use the names or pictures of candidates or endorse individual candidates. “Or this would get counted under candidate expenditure,” the source said. 

The popularity of these videos has naturally angered opposition party leaders, who have accused the BRS of spending crores of rupees for their campaign. “We do not have money for this style of campaigning,” said a Congress strategist. Another Congress source, however, said they did try to hire a small number of influencers but could not find an agency that would do the job.

Surrogate advertising not counted

Conventional advertisements of political parties are scrutinised by the Media Certificate and Monitoring Committee of the Election Commission of India. The committee checks if the content is in compliance with the Model Code of Conduct and also seeks the cost of production. But social media testimonial-like videos by influencers do not need any acknowledgement from the ECI. These advertisements are exempt from ECI’s scrutiny since the candidate and the political party are not directly involved.  

As per the ECI, “Any political content in the form of messages/comments/photos/videos posted/uploaded on the ‘blogs/self accounts’ on website will not be treated as a political advertisement and therefore would not require pre-certification, even if the same is posted/uploaded by the political parties/candidates.”

In 2013, the commission was considering the matter with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology on practical ways to deal with the issue. However, no decision was taken. 

Speaking about the issue, former Chief Election Commissioner TS Krishnamurthy said, “This is a huge challenge for the ECI. There is a conflict of interest, but it also infringes on freedom of expression. But somewhere, a line has to be drawn. The ECI should consider regulating this form of advertising wherever possible. This campaigning style is faulty, and political parties have been clever to adopt it.”

The Chief Electoral Officer of Telangana, in a press note on November 14, said, “It is observed that political parties are running advertisements on YouTube and similar platforms without prior approval. This also requires approval from the State Level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC).” This, however, is restricted to party advertisements and not surrogate ones.

This report has been published as part of the joint NL-TNM Election Fund and is supported by hundreds of readers. Click here to power our ground reports.