It was just five years back, in the general elections of 2004, when Internet was used in Indian politics for the first time ever. And back then, that use was limited to things like propaganda through text messages, emails, and the use websites for dissemination of information. But besides the usual political bickering, and the antics of the political parties, if there's one aspect that makes India's general elections 2009 different from all others, -- these start from tomorrow and go on until early May -- it is the way the Internet has moved into the mainstream of Indian political life.
Starting from a tool for an identity makeover, to mobilization of public opinion, to fund raising, and to even almost forcing democratic participation of the reluctant section of the Indian voters, the Internet-in a few short years has suddenly emerged as the most powerful tool as well as a driving force behind India's democratic politics.
Taking a cue from Barack Obama's stupendously successful strategy of using this medium to give him the winning edge, the Internet is not only at the heart of the election strategy of almost all political parties now. Some are also using it rather innovatively to cross the online frontier to reach out to voters.
.Take the instance of the website (http://www.tdpuk.com) created by the Telugu Desam Party for U.K.-based nonresident Indians. (his opposition party desperate to come back to power in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh)
On that website, not only has N. Chandrababu Naidu, the TDP chief, morphed his face into an image of Barack Obama, he has also copied Obama's tactic of using the website as a channel to garner campaign funds. For U.S.-based Indians he has even crafted a catchphrase: "Move over Bush, it is Obama's time ... it is our Babu's (short of Chandrababu) time."
If the TDP has excelled in online creativity, the leftist Communist Party of India (Marxist) is not too far behind either. This political party, which had little enthusiasm for digital technologies (since it replaces human labor) until recently. But now it has shown a clear preference for cyberspace-enabled propaganda for their election strategy of 2009.
While launching their election website for the first time ever, the CPI (M) admitted that since 54 percent of Indian voters are youths, the Internet is the best medium for reaching out to them.
"The increasing use of IT in Indian elections is changing the focus of many campaigns in India," says Ravi Singh, the CEO and co-founder of ElectionMall, the Washington, D.C.-based company that pioneered Internet-based IT applications for elections and campaigns, and was perhaps the biggest contributor to the IT-based election strategies of almost all the politicians in the last U.S. election.
According to Singh, following Obama's successful use of the Internet, the Indian political parties have woken up to the need to appeal to younger urban voters, who have a natural inclination toward new technology and its innovations. "Indian [youths] love their cell phones, which offers a great opportunity for mobile campaigning, like the sort just witnessed with Obama's successes in text messaging," says Singh.
The fear of terror attacks is playing a role as well.
Listen to what Suman R., outreach coordinator of the Janaagraha Center for Citizenship and Democracy, a Bangalore-based not-for-profit institution that started in 2001 to encourage people's participation in public governance, has to say:
"After the Mumbai [terror attack] incident, many are scared to participate in the political process like attending meeting and rallies, since such events are big terror threats," he says. "So, using IT makes sense because we have seen that when a political process is turned into an e-module, more people want to be a part of it."
Through a specially created website, www.jaagore.com (meaning wake up) Janaagraha is also spearheading a countrywide political awareness campaign that urges reluctant Indians to cast their votes.
However, it is the cost effectiveness of the Internet which may be most driving the new IT political culture in the India.
"A candidate who uses IT in his/her campaign cuts down his expenses due to the ability to reach many more people efficiently," says Singh. "As a result, the candidate can spend more time with voters, and less time worrying about whether or not the potential voters can easily access information about the candidate."
"The reality," he adds, "is that voters are moving rapidly toward relying almost exclusively on the Internet for political information. If candidates do not move in the direction in which voters are moving, namely toward an increase in the use of technology, then the only one left in the dust is the candidate who does not alter his approach to better reach voters."
Ravi also predicts that it is not just India that is following the realization of the power of Internet that the US elections displayed, "More and more countries within the world are adopting this new technology for politics, and soon the standards for campaigning will begin reaching new levels. The trend we see within global democracies is a continual demand for available political tools and the proper integration of these political technologies directly into political campaign infrastructure."
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