With a ‘Pledge to Vote’ interactive map.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: In an effort to appeal to younger voters in the weeks leading up to the Lok Sabha elections, Google India has launched a totally re-designed “Google Elections” hub that will connect voters from across the country and provide them with a portal they can use to communicate with politicians and candidates.
Some eight hundred million Indians are projected to vote in the upcoming elections this year, a new record that would constitute about two-thirds of the country’s population. A lot of that is due to young voters, who will be casting their ballots for the first time, and the increasing use of the Internet throughout the nation. As Internet usage continues to grow – there are current around 200 million Internet users in India – particularly in urban areas, politicians are using it as a way to reach out to a new demographic.
The hub gives voters access to the latest news, and information on the candidates and parties that are vying for seats in Parliament. There is also a “Pledge to Vote” map, pictured here, where voters from all corners of India can anonymously voice their reasons for wanting to vote, with a small colored dot showing where they’re situated. These statements range from generic statements, like wanting to rid New Delhi of the corruption that has long plagued it, to more specific statements of support for candidates, mostly Narendra Modi.
The Google Elections hub also has a ranking for which politicians have been searched the most. Not surprisingly, Narendra Modi came in at number one, followed by Arvind Kejriwal, Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. The hub will also host a Google Hangout – a large-scale video conference which uses Google Talk to connect multiple people – in which constituents can interact with politicians and ask the questions they want answered.