Deepti Soni was in a routine morning meeting in a New Delhi office when her
mobile phone gave a vibrating alert. As she reluctantly answered the call, she
could hardly believe her ears. It was the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
himself on the line, outlining his government’s achievements and asking her to
"vote for the BJP to help build a strong India".
Same city, different place: Ramesh Gupta was awaiting an SMS from his wife
when his Nokia 3310 gave a "ting"–with the message: ‘Vote4Congress’.
None too pleased, he quickly erased the text message.
Arnab Sen is a staunch Leftist. But that didn’t prevent his hotmail inbox
from receiving several "saffron emails" with ‘India Shining’
messages, including one stating, "Did you know that national security was
given top priority under the BJP with defence expenditure increasing by 65 per
cent from 399 billion rupees (1998-99) to 660 billion (2004-05)".
India’s biggest democratic event is at the doorstep and
political parties and their candidates are reaching out to the electorates
through computers and mobile phones, competing to grab eyeballs and earpieces
through every available means.
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The humbly folded hands, which not so long ago implored for
votes, are now busy on the keypads, ahead of the April-May parliamentary polls,
serenading voters with a very different and much more modern style of connecting
directly with the people.
Though blaring speeches over loudspeakers, banners and
graffiti and public rallies at which hired crowds are herded together to listen
to politicians are still not passé in this country, the national election
campaign in the world’s largest democracy has received an unprecedented
technological dimension with the "e-campaign" blitz mainly launched by
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress party.
If Vajpayee’s recorded voice is cutting into mobiles and
fixed telephones, Congress leaders are calling subscribers directly and chatting
with them. Telugu Desam Party supremo and high-tech chief minister of Andhra
Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, is leaving no stones unturned and going all out with
a multimedia blitzkrieg to woo voters.
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Using new technology to suit individual requirements has been
happening in India for quite sometime now. But this time it has gone on an
overdrive, on the political front. For instance, the BJP is targeting between 12
to 15 crore voters–close to a quarter of more than 60 crore registered voters
in the country- through the Internet, telephones, television, and radio.
"We have already drawn up a list of two crore telephones
from the seven crore mobile and land phones in the country and have collected a
database of about two crore e-mail IDs," BJP general secretary and the
party’s campaign manager Pramod Mahajan says.
According to data available there are about 1.6 crore
Internet users in the country.
And, if BJP has collected about two crore IDs, it means
virtually every e-mail account will see a "saffron mail".
Some 30 million Indians own mobile phones, while about 10
million have access to the Internet in a scenario where technology is touching
countless lives.
For the world’s largest democracy, these elections can be
the inflection point for the IT of the masses. "IT will be catalytic in
these elections," says a leading IT vendor.
According to him, PC industry can have huge sales.
"Nearly 5,000 candidates may compete in these elections and if about 10
laptops are required to support his/her infrastructure, it is about 50,000
laptops we are talking about," he says.
Due to the elections, industry is already experiencing an
increased Internet activity, a boom in weblogs, inflated mobile bills and usage
of mass SMS software.
The fact that more and more "youngsters" are
entering the political arena is also another reason for the "IT boom"
in politics. In 1999, maximum elected members were in the age group of 46-55
(180), which in Indian politics is considered "young". Of them 29 MPs
were between 25 and 30 years.
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Political parties are counting on the fact that with the rise
in literacy in the country to 66 % in the last 15 years, the hi-tech propaganda
will get across to many, many more. And IT will help them send across the
message to the masses in the least possible time and at a very low cost.
"There are about 600 million electorates in the country
and by the time of polling, we should be able to get across to 120 million
voters through telephone, SMS and e-mail," says Ajay Singh, a member of BJP’s
technology cell. "The idea is mass scale use of technology with minimum
costs," Singh, who is in regular touch with the party members across the
nation through emails and SMS, adds.
Not to be left behind is the Congress, which first infused
computers when its slain leader, Rajiv Gandhi, was the prime minister during
1984-89.
The party is also going hi-tech all the way. Vishvjit
Prithvijit Singh, chairman, AICC computer department, says, "For the first
time we have a dynamic presentation of our manifesto on the website which also
has a voice-over."
"We will call up people and our leaders will talk to
voters directly, instead of putting in recorded messages," he adds. Most of
the party headquarters have already installed servers, SMS software, bulk SMS
facility, 24x7 media monitoring and put an IT savvy team in place.
Leading the Bandwagon
Leading the pack is the BJP and the Congress at the national level and the
TDP at regional level. These parties are using various tools that not only help
them do proactive thinking, but also a chalk out strategies backed by data,
giving a true picture of the electorates and the voter pattern.
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Electoral mapping was done till now in a very primitive
manner by cutting and pasting data from various means–news wires, political
analysts and the Election Commission of India. Now most of the leading political
parties are doing GIS mapping, registering data as old as 20 years to understand
the party swing and trends.
All India Congress Committee calculates an IOU–Index of
Opposition Unity for every constituency based on the dynamic and static data
available with them. The higher the IOU, the greater is the possibility of
losing the seat. This all might sound great math to a layman, but the technique
is simple–it uses the excel sheets to generate these numbers.
BJP has a team of about 30 people managing the IT
infrastructure. This team is managing and diffusing information that is required
for the party workers, electors and contestants simultaneously. With about ten
TV sets and similar number of PCs, the media monitor cell of BJP is keeping its
members abreast with the latest political movements.
Vishvjit Prithvijit Singh of the Congress makes sure he
matches the zeal of the opposition camp. Loading bulk SMS software, Singh does
regular data crunching exercise on elections on his PC. He maintains a close
pack of team, which gives inputs to experts who are chalking the strategy for
the coming election.
Calculating IOUs came in easy for the AICC team.
"Utilizing data is like mining, just be sure what you want," says
Singh. AICC’s mapping database covers all the constituencies that Congress had
contested in the last 50 years.
Tech-wizards at the TDP office arrange video conferencing
every week to connect the regional party offices with the party headquarter to
discuses what has happened and what needs to be done.
The TDP is also trying to ward off the challenge from a
buoyant opposition alliance through the help of IT. Naidu, the man responsible
for making Hyderabad the IT hub, has included latest technologies in a vehicle,
to be included in his convoy, to enable him to be in touch with party leaders
and interact with them while undertaking tours in remote areas of the state.
Naidu and his folks are also busy these days sending emails
and typing messages to voters seeking their support for the
"pro-development" party.
Vajpayee’s voice message has attracted large response,
especially for the rural areas. For them, it is their prime minister calling
them up, still a fancy for the masses. PC has not been able to make such an
impact. However, with about 10 million PCs and 20 million Internet users, online
mode of communication and IT usage are also gaining popularity.
Making the Transition
Besides LAN in place, political parties are generating ways to use the IT
devices. Older generation has also learnt how to use the IT. PDA seems to be a
hot favorite of the younger political generation. Go to a political party office
and you will find politicians flaunting Palms along with mobile phones.
BJP president Venkaiah Naidu carries his laptop wherever he
goes. According to him, it is the "window to the world" in these busy
days, right from picking up the news pieces to contacting the members spread
across the nation.
During his Bharat Uday Yatra, the 75-year old deputy prime
minister L K Advani was riding a Wi-Fi enabled rath (a mini-bus converted into a
hi-tech vehicle). Connected through either satellite communication or CDMA
phones, it had four laptops on board to download regular media updates and
upload a minute-by-minute brief of the happenings during the Yatra.
"IT is important. It is fast and accurate information
mode, and information is quintessential for politics," BJP joint convener
(National Media Cell), Sidharth Nath Singh says.
TDP’s use of video conferencing facility is famous among
the tech echelons. Task for this IT savvy party was to harvest the already
present infrastructure and database. Currently, TDP’s headquarter in Hyderabad
is connected to 23 districts and 1,104 mandals through a dedicated line.
TDP’s chairman of the technical committee, PNV Prasad says,
"IT is now a part of life, everyone is using IT in some way or the other in
urban areas. However, the day is not far when rural areas will also be
IT-enabled."
TDP has its complete database of its 21lakh members and
regular mails and information about the party activities are sent out to
members.
Prasad adds, "It is true that for a large chunk of
people IT is still an alien thing, but a lot will change by the next elections.
Look at the difference mobile communications have brought in." According to
him, once IT penetrates the masses with vernacular applications, it would
"change the daily chores of people".
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Vishvjit Singh feels that technology has become popular as it
is convenient, dependable, available all the time and a price performer in the
long run. "IT has brought excellent tools to analyze data, which is not
possible otherwise. It also has the transparency factor in it, which is really
essential now," he adds.
The Real Drivers
Puretech Internet has developed the official website for the BJP. "The site
is driven by a content management system, allowing easy maintenance and constant
updating," says Prashant Deorah, MD, Puretech.
First uploaded in 1998, this site was adjudged the best among
Asia Pacific Political websites. Currently the site is being upgraded. However,
he declined to divulge details of the fund being utilized on this project.
According to BJP insiders, the party has earmarked about five percent of its
total election budget for e-campaign.
Deorah agrees that technology can be and will be a vital tool
towards ‘transformation’. "Our involvement is with the Internet medium.
Hence, besides the web site development, its promotion online, using various
communication channels on the Internet will be carried out to the right
audience. This would be a one on one, 24x7 available mechanism," he says.
Adarsh Singh, Technical Director for Itindustries.com, which
has made the official website for the Congress, also says, "Online presence
has been there for quite a while, but now with the increased internet
penetration, it has become a basic tool. Almost all the political organizations
have their online presence."
According to him, the reasons for the popularity of IT have
been the low cost of deployment and usage. "One helicopter trip to a
distant station can cost anywhere between Rs 10 to Rs 20 lakh, while technical
tools give them privacy, ubiquitous presence and low expenditure."
The Congress is said to have invested about Rs five lakh in
revamping the present website.
Firewall
So far we have heard about voice calls, SMS, emails, video conferencing,
data crunching and GIS mapping. This is just the tip of the iceberg in
"politics" now. Politcial parties are now coming out with disaster
recovery plans, maintaining firewalls to protect their data, hosting websites on
multiple servers and working from multiple sites. Ironically, their vendors are
not big time SIs, but regular technology vendors that fulfill their sporadic
requirements.
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Almost all the national parties are using websites and few
regional parties are also using online presence. The Congress has hosted its
website on seven different servers to protect it from any hacking activities. On
the same lines, BJP’s website has firewall and other protection systems in
place to keep it secure. Some of the regional parties, especially in the
southern India have websites in vernacular languages. Voice packets and SMS are
the other widely used tools.
For example, in a short notice of two hours to arrange a
press conference for the release of candidate’s list, BJP’s Sidharth Nath
Singh was done with the job in about 30 minutes contacting the media and taking
out CDs for the releases. He just had to flash a group SMS to the party beat
correspondents and party members to ensure adequate coverage.
Video conferencing not only saves money, but also saves a lot
of time. Prasad says that this method, being held every week, has saved them
efforts, money and has given them what money could never buy–time. Bulk faxing
is also used by most of the political parties to send press releases and
announcements.
Vishvjit Singh of the Congress says, "Authenticating and
analyzing static and dynamic data can be crucial for success of any party."
The party is using old and new data to decide on the ticket allotment, fund
allocation and resource management. It has also launched their revamped website
on April 17, which has about 750 pages and downloadables that include pictures,
posters, AV files and other support materials. Cutting photograph and manifesto
CDs have also come in handy for the party office.
The Software
IL Infotech has implemented two software applications for the BJP. The first
one is the ExpressPR software that sends news, press releases and announcements
to a number of newspapers by e-mail or Fax. The other is the Media Monitor
software to monitor the news published across the country and send the clippings
to central leaders.
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ExpressPR uses Indian Language fonts to send the news or
press release by e-mail in the respective font being used by newspapers.
Futuristic in nature, this software lets them send various newspapers; news
releases in vernacular languages as well. ExpressPR maintains a database of
newspapers across the country to send these releases on a regular basis through
its automatic distribution model.
Media Monitor is a web-based application to monitor the media
publicity received by the party. This helps the regional offices to get
information in time and with almost no knowledge of PC. Idea is to utilize
applications that can be used by the masses with no or little training.
Up Ahead: IT Wave
Mobile communication, online webcasts, websites and mobile computing, though
not very active, would be the technologies to watch during these elections. This
also means a new stream of revenue for the IT business and some sleepy days
ahead. How? Don’t be surprised next time you get calls from all contestants
from your constituency.
However, campaigning activities presently are still using new
media in the traditional ways. They are not using IT in the true manner. For
instance parties are using websites not as tools but as PR exercise.
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The Congress putting their print ad online has not made much
impact, but buying online ads might flourish in the future. Having satellite
communication in unwired regions will also be used. Wireless communications will
surface in coming times, which will use PDAs and mobile computing devices to
enable data transfer. Election Commission of India is using mobile phones to
ensure the security of the Electronic voting machines. The voice packets and
dedicated call centers will also be used as the telecom grows.
For most political parties, the ensuing elections are a
"tech leap" and a beginning of an IT wave in their "chaotic
environment".
Like Vajpayee’s voice messages, which may have added a
personal touch to BJP’s canvassing, the day is not far when each and every
candidate takes out his small IT tool and tries to invade the homes of his
valuable electorates.
Shweta Khanna/CyberMedia
News with inputs from Nandita Singh in Hyderabad, Nanda Kasbe in Pune CR
Jayachandran in Delhi
SMS Campaigns
M-campaigning is an instant, personalized and cost-effective
medium to reach the voter. In addition, it gives vast options like SMS, picture
message, voice messages, logos, ring tones, messages in vernacular languages
etc. The political parties have realized the power of m-campaigning. According
to rough estimates, SMS will form 20% of the total campaigning budget during the
Lok Sabha elections and the coming years will witness vertical rise in this
figure. Besides campaigning messages to the voters, the parties also set up
virtual networks over SMS to communicate to their party workers.
Many software companies are trying to take advantage of this
business opportunity, as the mobile operators would not push messages to their
subscribers directly.
According to Naveen Varshneya, Founder & CEO, Mobile
Mantra, a leading bulk SMS vendor, "Now, with the rapid penetration of
mobile technology, introduction of WLL and the outnumbering fixed line users by
30 mn mobile users, the need for m-campaigning is not only inevitable but
vital."
"BJP is at the Cutting Edge"
BJP |
From a global perspective India is faring quite well. It has
not reached cutting edge but it is showing signs of rapid progress. It is
behind the US, South Korea, Switzerland, and other more IT advanced
countries, but is way ahead of most of the world. India’s upcoming
election will be a true test for the country. The world is watching and
wondering if the BJP e-campaign is just hype or will prove itself at the ballot
box. Also, the e-Ballot box is another issue where Indian is
actually leading the world. No country has used so many (1
million)Â EVM’s for an election. If Indian can get through the election
without major machine failures or vote tampering, this will greatly help the
credibility of EVM’s throughout the world. It will also increase its adoption
rate.
During these elections, various parties are using data
crunching software, bulk SMSs, Wi-Fi enabled canvassing vans and websites. In
addition to this, can I get a fare perspective on how advance is Indian
political parties in harnessing the IT tools. Â
SMS does not work in the US. Some campaigns in the US have
tried this and it failed miserably. Americans have not yet adopted this, because
of other peer to peer technologies, and it probably won’t until new
innovations arise. One thing that the BJP is doing is emailing and texting
everyone. Most campaigns do not have the money or resources to do this. In
American politics for example, ads and letters go to swing voters or the
undecided. Politicians do not focus greatly those loyal to the Party
because they know they are going to vote for them regardless. I personally do
not know how much money the BJP has, but If I were them, I would focus more
on reaching the undecides rather than everyone. To their credit, the way they
announced the e-campaign did create a huge stir, which got them a lot of free
publicity.
Phone calling and SMS texting is the way to go for the BJP.
Not enough people in India are on the Web yet for it to be truly effective. In
sum, what the BJP is doing is cutting edge, few countries have ran elections
this way. However, India does have problems. The digital divide in this country
is one of the worst in the world. The country is working towards closing the gap
with e-gov, kiosks, e-learning, etc. India has also made appeals to the World
Bank and other organizations for e-gov funding. India is moving in the right
direction with IT, but its greatest barrier is socio-culture not IT acceptance.
(David Abel, Editor & General Manager PoliticsOnline,
as told to Shweta Khanna)
ECI’s Tech Wagon
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is uploading information about
candidates, including their educational qualifications, financial liabilities
and criminal record. It is on an average adding about 1,000 pages a day on its
website that contains election information right from 1951. Already with about
20 lakh pages online, it is adding new pages in the score of thousands to their
comprehensive Website–www.eci.gov.in.
Running with the assistance of software called Genesys, this Website can be
viewed in 12 Indian vernacular languages apart from English and Hindi. Launched
in 1998, just two days prior to start of Counting for General Elections to 12th
Lok Sabha, this aims at becoming a comprehensive plan for use of IT in Electoral
Management and Administration initiated by the Commission.
The database, centrally maintained in the Commission Secretariat is instantly
updated through an automated process. During the general elections more than a
thousand pages will be refreshed with latest data every five minutes.
Managed by CMC Ltd and inputs by CDAC, Pune, the entire infrastructure for
the Website is located inside Nirvachan Sadan, housing the Secretariat of the
Election Commission of India. Running on Oracle database, most applications have
been developed using Visual Basic and Java script.
AN Jha, ECI spokesman, says, "Website is revolution for the masses. It
supports transparency in the processes and helps us do work in real time.
Currently we are getting about 60,000 to 70,000 hits per day on the site and
will increase to 3 lakh per day during the elections. "
ECI is also looking at bulk SMS software to educate urban electoral rolls
about the election process and ensure higher voters’ turnout.