Lok Sabha polls | In Kerala, online slander campaigns dominate poll narratives as UDF, LDF square off
The Hindu
Use of cyberspace for bullying and harassing public figures, including women politicians contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, appeared to dominate the campaign narrative in Kerala
The use of cyberspace for bullying and harassing public figures, including women politicians contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, appeared to dominate the campaign narrative in Kerala on April 17 (Wednesday).
For one, it has caused the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) campaigns to square off against each other more vehemently in the key Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency where the CPI(M) candidate and former Health Minister K.K. Shailaja is locked in a high-stakes battle with Congress legislator Shafi Parambil.
The spirited row erupted on April 16 when Ms. Shailaja revealed, somewhat emotionally, that she was a victim of online harassment and humiliation allegedly unleashed by UDF sympathisers championing her rival, Mr. Parambil.
Ms. Shailaja claimed that “UDF hacks had used morphed images spliced with salacious content” to dehumanise her in front of her constituents and the world.
Moreover, she said, the “slanderers” transmitted the mockingly salacious photos across social media groups in Vadakara where they continued to “sprout like invasive digital weeds, burying her political messaging.”
Ms. Shailaja said she had alerted the police in late March to no avail. “I have never felt so hurt and demeaned. I request good minds in the UDF to stop this hurtful calumny”, she said.
The CPI(M) extensively used Ms. Shailaja’s impassioned appeal to spare her from online harassment, in a viral clipping on social media, to turn the tables on the UDF in Vadakara.
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