Want ticket, prove social media presence: Checking Insta reels and using AI summaries, Gujarat BJP screens candidates for Apr 26 civic body polls

The reliance on social media activity as an indicator of popularity has upset some party old-timers.

A two-decade veteran of the party and a former municipal corporator of Surat Municipal Corporation said, “I am not very accustomed to social media contacts and performance. I have been a ground-level worker, and I have given my sweat and blood to ensure growth for the party. Everyone in my ward knows me by name because I have addressed all their issues and put civic 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 to select candidates, I may suffer.”

The BJP’s poll observers have started their visits across the state to get a sense of the popularity and strengths of ticket aspirants. The State Election Commission (SEC) announced the dates for the elections on April 1. Counting will be held on April 28, two days after the vote, and results are expected to be announced the same day. All municipal corporations except Junagadh and Gandhinagar will go to polls, the SEC said.

Surat and Vadodara

The Vadodara Municipal Corporation has 19 administrative wards, which are aligned with an equal number of election wards. A total 76 corporators are elected from these 19 election wards. In each of these 19 wards, close to 100 aspirants are seeking BJP tickets to contest.

The Surat corporation has 30 wards, each of which also has four councillors, adding up to a total 120 councillors in the corporation house. Like Vadodara, around 100 aspirants are in the race in each of the 30 wards.

In the last election in 2021, the BJP won 93 of the 129 seats in the Surat corporation, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 27. Fourteen AAP corporators moved to the BJP later, and one AAP corporator was suspended.

In Vadodara, the BJP won 69 of the 76 seats in the municipal corporation,and the Congress won seven. At the end of the term in March 2026, the BJP held 67 seats, two of its corporators – Alpesh Limbachiya and Ashish Joshi – having been suspended from the party.

Aspirants’ online presence

Thanks to the emphasis laid on social media presence and online activity – which is a mandatory section in the form to be submitted to the observation committee – BJP leaders in Vadodara have been scampering to put together the metrics that attest to their popularity and influence on social media. As the committee works to assess their suitability, aspirants in each ward have been turning up with thick folders containing evidence of their digital profiles.

Party leaders who are eyeing tickets told The Indian Express that they began working on improving their social media profiles and AI summaries in February, when it became clear that significant weightage would be given to social media activity in assessing their suitability.

A party leader, who has applied for tickets in the general category in 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 the 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 has also been trying to “increase his follower base” since February.

Another party leader, who chose to be anonymous, said, “I have sought tickets from two wards. I have been active throughout the last 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.”

Former Vadodara city media convener 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 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 April 2 – the bulkiest file in the city. “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,” he said.

Parmar said that he had described himself as an “Instagram reel creator and influencer”, and cited the 1 million views that his recent reel received, in which he had said that AAP MLA Gopal Italia should wear lawyers’ robes if he calls himself a lawyer. Another of his reels, questioning Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani, had garnered 5 lakh views, he said.

“There is no need to be shy while claiming a ticket,” Parmar said. “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… We have to show that apart from being social activists we are also capable of being updated with modern communication skills.”

The use of AI

A senior BJP functionary said 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 April 3, more than 2,000 aspirants from Wards 1 to 12 – party workers, leaders, sitting and former councillors, relatives of BJP leaders, and leaders of the party organisation – had submitted their forms to the observers. The observers went through the process in Wards 13 to 24 on April 2, and in Wards 25-30 on April 3.

Sources in the BJP’s Surat headquarters said that information technology (IT) teams of the party have prepared a special software in which all proposal form details would be uploaded, along with photos.

A BJP leader considered an expert in IT said, “Once the data is uploaded on the software, with the help of AI, 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.”

According to this leader, the screening of the details would produce “the positive and negative images of candidates”, based on which “ranks of candidates will be generated”.

“Candidates who get higher ranks will be given first preference for the ticket in the election,” the leader said.