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MapmyIndias Election Site
MapmyIndia, launched a public service website, elections.mapmyindia.com, The
website aimed at helping voters in India, to make an informed choice on issues
related to the elections. MapmyIndias detailed and highly accurate India maps
provided the voter with data on electoral constituencies, like population,
literacy ratio, area, amongst others, and information on parties, candidates and
their track record. The election website placed a wealth of information and
analysis for voters to refer to. It also joined hands with NoCriminals.org in
providing this information on candidates. One notable feature of the site is
that of constituency boundaries being marked on the digital maps. Due to the
constituency delimitation exercise, since the last polls, voters now have a
quick reference to see which polling booth they can go to cast their vote. The
site also served as an effective platform for agencies, parties, party
supporters and general citizens to get quick analysis results.
Yahoo! Launched Election Site
Yahoo! India launched a new site, elections, yahoo.in for 2009 general
elections. The site aimed at creating an involved and an informed voter. Yahoo!
India, through its special elections microsite, is providing users with a
platform to participate in shaping the future of the worlds largest democracy.
Apart from being able to view the latest news updates, the elections site let
users share their opinions and updates on various leaders and constituencies
during elections, thus helping in making an informed choice.
In order to cater to large sections of the youth, several of whom could be
voting for the first time, the special elections site also focuse on educating
them on the importance of casting their votes.
| Political Parties on the Net
From political parties to candidates,
everyone is embracing the Net with great vigor. While some redesigned their
existing websites, others launched new ones with the elections in mind.
Apart from its official site, www.congress.org.in, the Congress party
launched a special site for the general elections www.voteforcongress.in.
It also dedicated a site, www.soniagandhi.org, for their leader Sonia
Gandhi. And, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had www.bjp.org, apart from
Advanis special website, www.lkadvani.in, that was publicized on almost all
websites. Advani has a personal blog too. Then there is www.cpim.org, the
website launched by the CPI(M). Even smaller and regional parties followed
this new trend. Shiv Sena www.shivsena.org, Trinamool Congress
www.trinamoolcongress.com, Telugu Desam Partys www.telugudesam.org,to
mention a few.
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Googles Election Fever
Competing with its rival Yahoo! India, search giant Google India also
launched an online elections center, a co-marketed initiative with Hindustan
Times Media. The Google site was based on a similar concept but with a few
additional features such as voters from across the country could confirm their
voter registration status, discover their polling location, view their
constituency on a map, consume relevant election related news, blogs, videos,
and quotations. Developed in collaboration with NGOs such as the Association for
Democratic Reforms, Indicus Analytics, the Janaagraha Center for Citizenship and
Democracy, the Liberty Institute and PRS Legislative Research, the initiative
aimed to create an atmosphere in which Indian citizens actively seek and utilize
important information about their democracy.
WB Went Hi-tech for State
Elections
The Election Commission in West Bengal had
introduced a three-tier communication system to monitor all polling booths
during the Lok Sabha elections held recently. According to the state chief
electoral officer, Debashis Sen, the three-level advanced monitoring system
included communications plan for election tracking (comET). The
password-controlled system was divided into three different tiersone from
the national capital, second from the state capital and third at the
district level. The state Election Commission planned to provide all
presiding officers with a special hotline. The commission had tied up with
Bharat Sanchar Nigam for providing these SIM cards to all poll personnel in
the state during the polls. |
Facebook Tied-up with Nautanki TV
Facebook in association with online entertainment broadcast platform, Nautanki
TV, brought live coverage of Indian elections. The three day live coverage in
Hindi virally reached 5 mn Indians across the globe on Facebook plus 13,000 web
pages powered by Nautanki TV.
Janata Dal (S) Sets on e-Campaign
JD (S) has been interacting with its voters through its official website. As
a part of its online campaign, JD (S) systematically targeted voters through SMS,
emails and video clippings since April. Former Karnataka chief minister and
senior JD (S) leader HD Kumaraswamy took keen interest in setting up a
full-fledged and permanent IT infrastructure for the party. The decision to take
up e-campaigning brought in a new aspect into the party, and maintained pace
with modern technology.
| Trai Draws Lakshman Rekha for
Broadcasting Trai has made it clear
that state governments, local bodies, political parties and religious bodies
will not be allowed to enter into the field of public broadcasting and
distribution activities such as cable services, DTH, etc. The Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting had requested Trai in December 2007 to examine
the matter of allowing certain entities including state governments, urban
and local bodies, 3-tier Panchayati Raj bodies, public funded bodies,
political bodies and religious bodies to enter into broadcasting activities,
which may include starting of broadcast channels or entering into
distribution platforms such as cable services, DTH, etc. Observing that
state governments, urban and rural local bodies, etc, need not be permitted
to enter into broadcasting activities, the telecom regulator said that the
aspirations of the state governments, as with regards to broadcasting,
should be adequately met by Prasar Bharati, and by imposing certain public
service broadcasting obligations on private broadcasters. |
Congress Info Kiosks
Congress set up hundreds of Internet kiosks across the country, including
fifty in Gujarat, to promote an online campaign. The initiative was targeted to
attract youth members and inform them about the central governments
initiatives. The online campaign strategy was worked out by a dedicated IT team.
The kiosks had customized software to make them as interactive as possible.
There was also be an option for the youth to send messages to Rahul Gandhi from
these kiosks. Party sources said a total of 600 kiosks were be set up across the
country. They were also used for regular transmission of the key excerpts of the
speeches of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul
Gandhi.
Alternative Photo ID
The Election Commission allowed alternative photo identity cards for those
who did not receive the electors photo identity cards for the Lok Sabha
elections. According to the Delhi chief electoral office, there are over 1.6 mn
people in the national capital who did not receive their photo identity cards.
The documents that were considered in place of EPIC includepassports, driving
licences, PAN cards, service identity cards of the employees of state and
central government, besides PSUs; passbooks issued by banks and post offices;
Arms licence, physical handicap document; property; documents, such as
registered deed with photograph, pension document, etc.
Piyali Guha
piyalig@cybermedia.co.in
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