Hyderabad: As the election draws near, anticipation and strategic campaigning are captured in Google Trends data. Siasat.com analysed regional Google Search data, and searches are all-time high for the Congress in Telangana over the last 90 days.
Congress gained moments of heightened search interest with the first surge on September 17, when Sonia Gandhi released the party’s ‘six guarantees’.
A similar spike arose on October 15 following the announcement of the party’s first list of 58 candidates. Then on October 26, Rahul Gandhi’s schedule for the second phase of the ‘Bus Yatra’ was released to intensify the Congress campaign. Lastly, on November 17, the search volume spiked again with the release of the party’s manifesto.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saw its first search interest spike amidst a probe by the central team into the structural discrepancies of the Medigadda barrage, which is a part of the ambitious Kaleshwaram Project. And a minor spike was observed when BJP’s star campaigner Prime Minister took out a road show.
Meanwhile, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) maintained a consistent lead in the search interest, peaking on October 15. This was when Mission Chanakya’s study report was released, suggesting BRS’s lead over Opposition parties.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) saw a surge in searches when party chief Asaduddin Owaisi declared that the party would contest in nine seats.
Historial data suggests that search interest for BJP, which was at the all-time high during GHMC elections, has reduced significantly while the search interest for Congress remains high ahead of the polls on November 30.
