Dainik Bhaskar ran a pre-electoral campaign in the states of Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, states which are expected to go in for an assembly election in the near future. With the elections in the backdrop, the campaign was a move towards inviting responses from readers in an attempt to create a public manifesto of sorts on the issues that concern readers the most and the kind of candidate that they were looking for.
Reader response was invited through a pre-paid inland letter published in the daily's various editions.
The campaign claims to have ended with over 51,699 responses. An analysis of the responses reveals that respondents from the state of Chattisgarh voted for education and employment as the most important issues on their manifesto, and demanded a party with a clean image and an honest candidate as their leader.
Readers from Madhya Pradesh chose to opt for better roads, electricity and adequate water supply. On the selection of the candidate and the party, the readers opted for the development policy and national outlook of the party and an educated and honest party candidate.
In Rajasthan, readers seemed to unanimously feel that terrorism was the biggest problem and indicated education and a clean image as the key criteria in the selection of the candidate and party respectively.
Sharavan Garg, group editor, Dainik Bhaskar said, "The 'You Decide' campaign is an innovative step towards understanding the people's point of view about our issues that really affect them or are relevant to them and the factors that they evaluate their leaders in. We are overwhelmed with the response received and we are proud to be the voice of our readers and their concerns."
Sanjeev Kotnala, vice president, DB Corp said, "This unique process and the huge response to the Bhaskar innovative differential in news reporting, providing voice to the common man in allowing them to create a public manifesto much in advance of the political parties manifesto is just another example of how press media can share the responsibility entrusted by its readers. We were ready for a huge response, the level of response speaks of the trust the readers have in the brand to rightly reflect and raise their voice."
