New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS): The virtual rally organised by the Congress in Jalandhar on Thursday was watched by 50,000 people at a time, a first of its kind experiment held by the party's Social media team.

Rohan Gupta, the Congress social media head, said, "The digital relay from the Jalandhar venue was connected through LEDs across all 117 Assembly constituencies and 22 district headquarters of Punjab where up to 300 people gathered at each location following the strictest Covid-19 protocols."

In the digital space, a more than 50,000 people watched it live at a single point of time across various social media platforms.

He claimed that more than 4,00,000 people watched on social media with 30,000 comments, 9,000 shares and over 9 lakh people reached within only two hours of the rally making it the most successful hybrid Virtual Rally of the country.

The 'Navi Soch Nava Punjab' Virtual Rally was addressed by Rahul Gandhi, where he said the Congress will take feedback from party workers before announcing the CM face.

Both Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu have urged Rahul Gandhi to announce a CM face well ahead of the polls, instead of going with the collective leadership.

"Both (Channi and Sidhu) have assured me that they will help whoever is named as the CM face," said Rahul Gandhi, who kickstarted Congress' election campaign in Punjab on Thursday after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

At the same time, he said that there should be a dedicated manifesto for the women of Punjab.

Flanked by Chief Minister Channi and Sidhu, Rahul also paid obeisance at the Durgiana Mandir and Bhagwan Valmiki temple in Amritsar.