Popularity on social media, number of viral reels for party, capability to start and carry forward digital narratives of the party especially in countering opposition voices as well as AI-generated overview of aspirants — these are a few of the performance indicators that aspiring BJP leaders must submit before party’s poll observers in order to stake claim for party tickets in the April 26 civic polls in Gujarat.
In a bid to set aside dynasty selections and relative references, the BJP has adopted the strategy using artificial intelligence for the selection of candidates from a sea of applications received across the state, especially in the cities of Surat and Vadodara. That notwithstanding, the party has received more than one proposal for a ticket from one family in the diamond city, The Indian Express has learnt. On an average, each ward got four times the contenders for each seat.
The party’s insistence on social media activity has also upset some of its old timers.
A senior BJP leader and former municipal corporator of Surat Municipal Corporation, who has worked with the party for the last two decades, said, “I am not very accustomed to social media contacts and performance. I have been a ground-level party worker, and I have poured my sweat and blood for the party’s growth. Everyone in my ward knows me by name because I have addressed all their issues and put the SMC officials to work on them. I have not uploaded such activities on social media, but the people on the ground know my work. If AI is used for candidate selection, I may face a great loss.”
In the SMC of the total 129 seats, BJP won 93 in the last elections in 2021 and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates won 27 seats, while Congress got no seats. Later, 14 AAP corporators shifted to the BJP, while one was suspended, leaving the current strength at 13 corporators.
State education minister Praful Pansheriya (in the white T-shirt) at the BJP office.
Ahmedabad was the only corporation where the All-India Majlis e Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won seven of 192 seats, with 159 going to the BJP and 25 to the Congress; One went to an independent.
BJP’s poll observers have already started visits across the state to gather a sense of the popularity and proficiency of aspiring candidates in the local body polls, dates for which were announced by the State Election Commission on Wednesday. The counting of the April 26 elections will be held on April 28 and the results will also be announced on the same day. Only two municipal corporations – Junagadh and Gandhinagar – will not go to the polls, the SEC said.
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With each of the 19 election wards in Vadodara witnessing close to 100 aspiring candidates staking claim as well as similar numbers in Surat’s 30 election wards– comprising a panel of four corporators in each ward in both cities– the BJP has laid emphasis on screening the aspiring candidates through their social media profiles and online popularity.
In Vadodara, thanks to the emphasis laid on the social media presence and activity of the aspirants– and a mandatory section in the form to be submitted to the observation committee — leaders have scampered to put together their popularity metrics and accounts on social media platforms to comply.
In Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) BJP won 69 of 76 seats, Congress seven. Of these, BJP had 67 seats at the end of the term in March 2026 following the suspension of two sitting corporators– Alpesh Limbachiya and Ashish Joshi from the party.
As the BJP continued gathering a sense of candidates on Thursday, close to 100 aspirants in each ward turned up with thick folders containing the proof of their digital profiles in Vadodara.
Aspirants’ attempts
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Party leaders, who are eyeing tickets, told The Indian Express that they began working on improving their social media profiles and AI summaries since February, when it became clear that the weightage given to social media activity would be high.
A party leader, who has applied for tickets from the General Category seat from three wards, told The Indian Express, “Earlier the emphasis was on the outreach on ground and the social work activities the leaders have engaged in. While that continues to remain an aspect, the party is especially looking at the adaptability of the leaders in the digital age as the outreach on digital platforms is way bigger than the ground… This is an experiment that has been tried in south (India) and a few other states and is being implemented in Gujarat for the first time..”
The leader added that apart from involving himself in “social work activities” and actively publicising it on his social media accounts, he also tried to “increase his follower base” since February.
Another party leader, who chose to be anonymous, said, “I have sought tickets from two wards due to the reservation that is being implemented… I have been active throughout the five years owing to my membership in an (important) committee of the VMC… So, when my team checked the AI-generated summary, we were extremely happy to see that my efforts in reaching out to the voters in the past five years have been well summarised. Having said that, I prepared a meticulous folder of my social media posts and issues I spoke about on the digital platforms”.
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Former Vadodara city media convenor and member of the SC Morcha of the party advocate Harshad Parmar has sought tickets from Wards 12, 18 and 8, where seats are reserved for the SC community. Parmar is also aware of the high stakes as the Mayoral post is reserved for an SC candidate.
Speaking to this newspaper, Parmar said that he had submitted a 45-page biodata to the observation committee on Thursday — the bulkiest file in the city. Parmar said, “My 45 page biodata is the heaviest that the party has seen in the last two days. I have described social media presence with activities, followers and especially how the party can benefit from my personality… The form had a separate column on this issue.”
Stating that he described himself as an “Instagram reel creator and influencer”, Parmar also cited the one million views his recent reel received in which he had commented that AAP MLA Gopal Italia should wear a lawyers’ robes if he calls himself a lawyer while another reel questioning Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani garnered 5 lakh views.
Parmar said, “There is no shying away while claiming a ticket. I have put everything that I have done in the last 12 years right from the posts held in the party to the activity of distributing kits during the Covid pandemic to photographs and details of my professional engagements as a lawyer… social media is an additional requirement to state that apart from being social activists we are also capable of being updated with modern communication skills.”
AI aggregate
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A senior BJP functionary said that the party is aware that several leaders engaged in last minute attempts to ensure that the AI aggregate will give a positive portrayal of them.
“The AI-generated information is only an indicator to gauge the activities and popularity of the candidate… The final decision on handing out tickets will of course rest with the top leaders and the state executive wing of the party. It is also likely that the party may field candidates, who have not even submitted nominations in some seats, where it deems fit,” the leader said.
For Surat Municipal Corporation’s 120 seats in 30 wards, the state BJP has deployed 12 observers, split into four teams to “gather a sense” and receive the applications of the aspirants. By Friday over 2000 aspirants from Ward 1 to 12 comprising party workers, leaders, running councillors, former councillors, relatives of BJP leaders in the organisation, and party organisation leaders had submitted their proposal forms to the observers. On Thursday, the observers carried out a similar process in Wards no. 13 to 24 and on Friday, they will take care of the remaining Wards no. 25 to 30.
Sources at the BJP Surat headquarters said this time the party has adopted a new strategy for candidate selection. The proposal forms completed by aspiring party candidates also include details about their social media accounts and followers, hometown, family, present occupation, and other necessary details. The Information Technology teams of Surat BJP have prepared a special software in which all proposal form details will be uploaded, along with photos.
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A BJP leader considered an expert in Information Technology said, “Once the data is uploaded on the software, with the help of AI (artificial intelligence), the candidate’s social media activities, public outreach, art of public speaking, participation in public meetings, attending public grievances, popularity data, and other details will be known.”
“The positive and negative images of candidates will come out through such screenings of their details. On the basis of performance, ranks of candidates will be generated, and those candidates getting higher ranks will be given first preference for the poll ticket in the upcoming municipal corporation election,” the leader explained.
