Councillor Suneel Kumar logs on to a social networking site on his laptop, in Patna. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, July 19: Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) may still be struggling with age-old problems of poor amenities and messy affairs but its councillors have already stepped into the new-age world of cyber communication.

With municipal elections less than a year away, the councillors are logging into social networking sites to woo supporters and voters.

Many councillors are learning to use the computer to prepare lists of loyal voters or to connect with them through Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and Myspace.

According to sources, the municipal elections are due in May 2012.

Anxious over the slow pace of work in their areas, most of the councillors are planning to reach out to the voters in an innovative manner.

“I took the list of Legislative Assembly voters and then selected the names of voters in my ward. The number came down to about 20,000. Then I consulted people to find out who have moved in or out of the area from among the voter list. After that I prepared my own voter list which was quite a lengthy process,” said Suneel Kumar, who represents ward number 3 in Anisabad.

He said he has started calling up voters in nearby localities and also those who have moved out of his ward but whose names were still in the voter lists of the area. “That is the only way I can ensure that they come out and vote for me on the poll day,” said Kumar.

He added that he recently created a profile on the social networking site, Facebook. “Not many voters are there in my friend list but I can at least contact them. This will remind them that I am accessible to them all the time.”

Women councillors, who are a majority in PMC, are not far behind. Abha Lata, councillor from ward number 4, said she is not cent per cent sure about her victory this time and is attending functions in her ward to connect with people. “Official apathy has ensured that very little development work has been carried out in the past four years and that is why we have a tough battle ahead. We are trying our best to retain our seats this time,” Abha said.

She added: “I not only learnt to work on the computer to chalk out a list of my loyal voters, I also attend marriage and birthday parties whenever people invited me. This is a great way to remain in public memory and to make them feel that I am the right representative.” Another councillor from a ward in the New Capital Circle said: “When one cannot win voters through development work, one has to implement a good election strategy and public relations exercise. Many councillors are doing exactly that ahead of the elections. I even opened an account on a social networking site recently to communicate, as many voters in my ward are rich, educated and computer savvy.”

Many councillors, on the other hand, said they were confident about their win and did not need to adopt such measures to woo voters.

“I won by biggest margin in the past two municipal elections. I am sure people will elect me this time too. However, in a democracy everything is in the hands of people. I will soon plan on how to go about the elections,” said mayor Afzal Imam who represents ward number 37 in Patna City.