Forget the long political speech. As Gen Z moves away from conventional practices, Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) candidates are turning to 30-second Reels to reach voters.
With the DUSU elections scheduled for September 18, campaigning is shifting from college gates, posters and pamphlets to Instagram, WhatsApp and other social media platforms, creating a new digital battleground.
Traditional campaigning has not disappeared, but restrictions on printed campaign material have made social media an increasingly important tool for reaching voters. Reels allow candidates to deliver messages in short, engaging formats while building a public image beyond their manifestos.
“Students don’t necessarily want to watch a long political speech, but they might watch a 30-second reel if it is funny, relatable or talks about something happening on campus,” said a student creator involved in election-related content.
The creator said he began making regular social media content last year and gradually moved into election-related campaigning.
“With printed campaigning becoming more restricted, social media becomes an obvious alternative. Reels are quick, shareable and allow candidates to build a personality rather than just put out a manifesto. Students are already consuming content this way, so naturally campaigns are following them there,” he said.
The university also sees the shift as a way to reduce the physical impact of election campaigning.
“During the campaign, candidates have increasingly moved to social media to reach voters. This helps avoid defacement of public spaces and also reduces pollution caused by traditional campaign materials,” said Prof Raj Kishor Sharma, Chief Election Officer, University of Delhi.
For students, the digital format offers greater control over when and how they engage with campaigns.
“I enjoy this kind of campaigning because I can watch it when I want to. I don’t have to stop outside my classroom or sit through a long speech. If a Reel interests me, I watch it; otherwise, I can simply scroll past,” said Jyoti Dalal, a DU student.
Vikram Thakur, another DU student, said social media also made it easier to follow multiple candidates without attending every campaign event.
“Earlier, you would mostly come across candidates during physical campaigning on campus. Now, we can see what different candidates are saying on our phones and compare their issues at our own convenience. It feels less intrusive and more accessible,” he said.
Campaigning becomes content
The digital shift has brought student content creators into the election ecosystem. The creator said he receives approaches from people associated with different candidates but does not accept every proposal.
“I look at whether the candidate or issue fits my audience and whether I’m comfortable putting my name behind it,” he said. There is also a commercial side to the trend.
Content creator Pardeep Grewal told The Tribune that campaign Reels can cost between ₹5,000 and ₹25,000, depending on followers, engagement, production and the number of videos involved. Larger creators, he said, can charge substantially more.
However, he said creators do not necessarily surrender editorial control to campaigns.
“There can be conversations with the candidate or people from the campaign about what they want to highlight, maybe a particular issue, an event or something the candidate has said. But I decide how to present it,” he said.
“If the campaign starts writing the entire script and telling me exactly what to say, it stops looking like my content and starts looking like an advertisement, which usually doesn’t perform as well.”
Despite the digital push, ground mobilisation remains crucial in DUSU politics. But the two worlds are increasingly merging. A campus interaction can become a Reel, a speech can be reduced to a short clip and a campaign event can continue circulating online long after it ends.
As polling day approaches, candidates are competing for attention in two spaces — the DU campus and students’ phone screens. The pamphlet may be disappearing from college corridors. The campaign, however, is very much alive on the Reel.
