Maya ignores media: Political parties spent Rs 700 crore

The BSP’s Mayawati has demonstrated in the landmark Assembly UP poll how unconventional wisdom could sway voters in the days of hi-tech expensive campaigns. In the process certain myths like the media, money and muscle power determine a poll outcome were underscored.
While the other parties in UP were busy for a media hype directly and indirectly, the BSP was busy at the grassroots level and, in fact, kept itself away from the news media. Mayawati did not care what other contenders were saying on television and in newspapers. She also did not waste money on advertisements and visibility in the news media.