Elections par laga techno tadka

It's technology that's garnering massive attention from politicos and poll-movement forums

Elections par laga techno tadka

It's technology that's garnering massive attention from politicos and poll-movement forums

Inspired by the 2008 American Presidential election, which used social networking websites and technology for electoral campaign, Indian political parties, too, are embracing technology for similar purposes. Tech Check takes a look at the various mediums, and the reason behind the sudden faith in technology.

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Every election has its individuality, in the sense that it has one particular class of voters or issue around, on the basis of which most campaigning is done. At times, the campaigns talk only about terrorism, Ram Mandir, reservation, or try to woo rural voters, corporate sector or female voters. This time, it's the youth that's being impressed. Since the youth is glued to Internet, mobile phone and various other technology modes, almost very contestant is out with a portal, online advertisements and even blogs.

Just like their American counterparts, Indian politicos, too, are promoting themselves on Twitter, Facebook and Orkut. Priya Dutt and Milind Deora, too, have their Facebook accounts apart from their respective websites.

Going web

Prior to the elections, contestants like Shashi Tharoor, LK Advani, Vijay Goel and several other politicians have launched their own websites. In one of his posts on his blog at Lkadvani.com, the BJP prime ministerial candidate says, "My young colleagues, who have created this website, told me that a political portal without a blog is like a letter without a signature. I quickly accepted this compelling logic. I am excited by the idea of using the Internet as a platform for political communication and, especially, for election campaign." Even CPI (M) launched a poll portal in the month of March to please young voters who form close to 54 per cent of the country's population. Samajwadi Party, which in its recent manifesto expressed its annoyance over excessive use of computers, ironically, has a dedicated portal. This apart, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, and AIADMK among others, haveu00a0 websites which have been revamped for propaganda purposes.

Earlier, there were pre-recorded calls made to voters to woo them. However, this year even customised SMS and Bluetooth is being used by political parties to campaign. According to reports, several parties have positioned Bluetooth at malls in Bangalore and Mumbai to send messages to those whose Bluetooth reception is switched on. What's next Twitter voting?