The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the top brand advertiser on television in the countdown to assembly elections in five states, according to the latest Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data.

BJP's advertisement on TV has taken the place of Vimal pan masala in the week ended November 16. BJP was followed by Netflix and Trivago in that order. Congress, however, was not in the list of top 10 brand advertisers.

Assembly elections usually set the tone for the general elections and the BJP is surely leaving no stone unturned in its race to retain power at the center.

Five states are going to polls — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. The assembly elections in these states will be held between November 12 and December 7, in what could be a virtual semi-final to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Counting of votes will be taken up together in all the five states on December 11.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amit Shah, the BJP has since 2014 got better of the Congress in every major state polls where both were the main rivals.

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First Published:Nov 23, 2018 9:38 AM IST