Up to Rs 80,000 per reel? Social media influencers ‘in demand’ ahead of Bengal Assembly election
Telegraph | 26 February 2026
Around a week ago, Calcutta-based content creator Shalini Mukherjee Banerjee – with 43,000-plus combined followers on Facebook and Instagram – received an email from an agency claiming to represent the BJP.
The email said the agency was scouting for paid collaborators for political campaigns, the eligibility criteria being a minimum of 20,000 followers on Instagram, with an average view of 10,000-15,000.
The money offered was Rs 20,000 for each reel. Shalini, who runs her own company, posted a screenshot of the email on her Facebook profile.
She is not the only one to have received such offers and the purported offers are not only coming from those claiming to be representing the BJP. Quite a few influencers in Calcutta that The Telegraph Online reached out to said that they had received similar purported offers claiming to be from the ruling Trinamool as well.
Shalini Mukherjee Banerjee told The Telegraph Online that she had received several similar offers and declined each of them.
“I have been approached for digital campaigns by both parties. The remuneration offered was around Rs 80,000 per reel,” Koninika Dey, a lifestyle vlogger counted among macro-influencers, told The Telegraph Online.
Koninika said she turned down the offers, insisting that she was apolitical.
Those with 10,000 followers or less are considered as nano-influencers, who have a limited but steady engagement with their followers and provide targeted exposure.
Ranked above them are the micro-influencers with follower count between 10,000 and 1 lakh followers. Then there are the macro-influencers who have a follower count between 1 lakh and 10 lakh, with more platforms to offer like personal websites or podcasts.
At the top are the mega influencers with more than 10 lakh followers each.
The political parties decide on the group of influencers to collaborate with depending on their campaign objective and the budget. Nano and micro influencers help connect with hyperlocal issues, while the macro and mega influencers can spread a message effectively to a wide pool of audience.
As the Assembly election approaches the tribe of social media influencers, which runs into lakhs, seems to be much in demand in Bengal.
A university student who made her debut as a lifestyle vlogger last year said she had made one reel for a political party, but did not name the party.
“I realised it was not right. It is quite evident that some influencers have accepted the offers. Check the content that they are putting out now. It is different from what they usually do,” she said, requesting anonymity.
All influencers that The Telegraph Online spoke with denied that they were collaborating with any political party.
The Covid pandemic onwards, social media influencers emerged on the Calcutta scene and their number has been growing.
At the national level, the BJP has emerged as a master in the art of using social media and digital platforms for effective communication. Last November in Calcutta, the party hosted a meet-and-greet event at a hotel with around 60 influencers in attendance.
“They offered to pay for content promoting the BJP while bashing the Opposition. I am not inclined to their brand of politics and declined,” a Calcutta-based content creator, who had attended the meet, told The Telegraph Online on condition of anonymity.
Another influencer with nearly 65,000 followers said political parties want the content they produce – like reels – to appear independent and without any direct link to the political party.
“There is a definite lack of transparency,” he said.
Agencies purportedly as far away as Patna and Noida have reached out to influencers in Calcutta to collaborate and some have even hinted at long-term association, many said.
A marketing agency from Patna reached out to an influencer offering a three-month political campaign focused on awareness and communication regarding government schemes.
The deliverables mentioned included one “non-collab” reel and stories, with the possibility of multiple reels.
Threats too
Turning down the offers has sometimes resulted in threats, some, like Koninika Dey, said.
“I ignored the threats. Voting for a particular party is a matter of choice. I cannot influence people to think that one political party is righteous than the other because I think so. Personal belief is best kept out of business,” she said.
Another influencer who had declined the offers also claimed to have received rape threats after refusing to collaborate for political campaigns.
A food vlogger who is also an employee of the Bengal government said he received emails from an agency claiming to represent the BJP. “They did not even check my background before making the offer. I chose to ignore,” he said.
Vlogger Sohini, who runs @_sohini_sourajit, posted a reel on December 30 last year, saying she had been getting multiple political campaign offers.
“The agencies that are reaching out are giving you options as to which party you want to promote. The pay is really good. But we do not consider it ethical,” she said.
BJP denies, TMC denies money offer
Saptarshi Chowdhury, convenor of the Bengal BJP’s social media cell, denied that the party had engaged any agencies to hire any influencers.
"We have not engaged any outside agency to scout for influencers to work for the party. No such message or email has been sent by the party to anyone," Chowdhury told The Telegraph Online.
The Trinamool’s social media and IT cell head, Debangshu Bhattacharya, said the party was indeed trying to get influencers into its fold, but would not comment on whether it would be a paid collaboration.
“We are not hiring them. We have issued an open call to all influencers to come on board, irrespective of their political ideology, to fight against the enemies of Bengal. Influencers who want to join this fight are welcome,” Debangshu said.
“We do not have deep pockets like the BJP,” he added.
Bhattacharya would not specify if one or more agencies were involved in looking for influencers to act as footsoldiers in the party’s digital battle in the upcoming Assembly polls.
“There are many who are trying to connect with influencers,” Debangshu said.
Bengal Congress general secretary and co-chairperson of the social media cell, Roahan Mitra, asked: “Where will we get the funds to hire influencers? For the first time in many years, the Congress in Bengal is contesting in all 294 seats. If we can send funds to all the candidates for party flags and wall-writing that would be an achievement in itself. The big influencers are all with either of the two big parties. Only those in the bottom of the barrel are left. But we don’t have that kind of money.”