Framing the Marginalized: A Study of Bhagwant Mann’s Facebook Communication during General Assembly Elections 2024

In the digital age, social media has emerged as a powerful tool for political communication. The interactive features offered by social media platforms have transformed how political leaders engage with citizens and shape public discourse. Despite the increasing role of digital media in electoral campaigns, there remains a significant research gap in understanding how regional political figures engage with marginalized communities through social media platforms. The study seeks to fill this gap by focusing the shift on regional leader CM Bhagwant Mann’s use of Facebook as a tool to communicate and frame narratives during General Assembly Elections in 2024. The primary objective is to analyse how issues related to marginalized groups—including Scheduled Castes, women, economically disadvantaged, and youth communities were framed in his digital outreach. For this study, a three-month timeframe, from January to march 2024 has been selected to explore how marginalised communities were represented during the general assembly elections. The study uses content analysis to examine posts from Bhagwant Mann’s official Facebook account, focusing on its key objectives. It further assesses how often these communities were mentioned, and framing of these references to understand the messaging strategies used. The research is expected to identify key patterns and narrative frames by Bhagwant Mann to reach and engage with marginalized communities. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to the growing discourse on media framing, digital populism, and the evolving practices of political communication in regional Indian democracies. The study contributes to understanding how regional political leaders use digital media as a tool to build political strategy, and inclusive representation.