According to this article in The Hoot – Women stay away from Indian politicians online – by Usha Rodrigues, quoting from statistics obtained by Twrtland.com, the three main political parties have barely 30 per cent women followers. The figures are around the same for women politicians like Sushma Swaraj or television anchor Barkha Dutt. But perhaps this isn’t so surprising, considering that women online media users in India are around a third of male users in the country.
The article also tells us that none of the big four – Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Uttar Pradesh Bahujan Samaj Party’s leader Mayawati – are on Twitter but alas, one wishes it also examined the figures for younger politicians and political aspirants. Gul Panag, for instance, who is the AAP candidate in Chandigarh, is very active on Twitter. So is Shazia Ilmi, also from AAP.
Geetha Seshu
