Evolution of Social Media as a platform for political communication among the youth in India: 2014 – 2021

Since the general election of 2014, social media in India has been touted to be a platform that would play a significant role in political communication. Many studies done since have also pointed out that the social media actually influences the people so much so that it might affect their political attitude and their voting behaviour. However at the same time there have been studies those points out that the effect of social media is limited when it comes to political communication especially in India due to the accessibility factor. This research paper is a cross sectional study over a period of 8 years involving two general elections (2014 & 2019) and a legislative assembly election (West Bengal State Assembly elections 2021, as the next general election is scheduled in 2024), and examines whether social media is a platform for political communication/ participation among Indian and does it influence them especially when it comes to their voting behaviour.