While Rohit Tilak, the Congress-NCP candidate, makes his presence felt on the web world via the social networking sites, blogs and forums, BJP’s Girish Bapat reaches out to voters by visiting every household in Kasba Peth and holding meetings. The two contenders have set the stage for a campaign war — of real Vs virtual world or traditional Vs modern techniques.

Tilak recently launched his website www.rohittilak.com. “Besides, we have also launched an online community titled ‘Rohit Tilak for Kasba’ which we are promoting on Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and other such networking sites. We just finished a Janmat test on one of the websites. Youtube videos, blogs, shooting public opinions and uploading them on the website are some of the other tasks we have currently undertaken,” said Tilak who decided to tap the virtual world after eight months of research before bagging the Congress ticket.

“We visited every Internet café in the constituency and noticed that this is where we can connect with India’s youngsters. Post elections, we plan to start an online window to solve queries of people in our constituency,” said Tilak, who has also been taking out rallies and marches.

Bapat, on the other hand, prefers the time- tested formula, something he has learnt from the 15 years of serving as an MLA.

“We know the pulse of this constituency. The way to tap the vote bank is still via direct meetings. We started the campaign a month in advance. Before the model code of conduct, we had inaugurated over 100 developmental projects, 25 youth branches, involved over 250 senior citizens and organised worker-meetings. Even now, we depend on foot marches, corner meetings and pamphlets distribution to reach out to our voters. “Though we are sending e-mails to our voters, our basic approach this election remains predominantly traditional. This is a transition period. I can say that by the next Assembly polls e-campaigning will gain momentum in India. So, we will effectively use the tool next time,” said Kiran Sardeshpande, election in charge for Bapat.

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