Impact+of+Technology+on+India's+2014+Election

by Nina Chohan

__ The Leverage of Social Media and Technology on India’s 16th Election Campaign __ The impending general elections in India are said to be the largest elections ever in history. Not only is it the largest, but it is also the most innovative. Modern technology resources have become the new battleground for the 16th elections. Using different campaign strategies like social media outreach and micro-targeting a variety of groups, India’s youth has become the main target of these elections1. This year marks the eighth election that Indian citizens as young as the age of eighteen are able to take part in the voting process, ever since the voting age was brought down from age twenty-one through the 61st Amendment Act in 19882. Why target the youth? About two thirds of the population is younger than the age of thirty five1. Amongst the 814.5 million voters (out of the 1.2 billion over population), over 100 million of them are first time voters. There are over 200 million Internet users in India, and out of this population, 93 million have Facebook accounts, and another 33 million have Twitter accounts3. Outside of the United States, India has the highest Twitter and Facebook usage in the world. Along with these social media devices, there is also the usage of Thunderclap, which is an online platform that helps make content viral 10. While traditional campaigning dominates in India, online campaigns have received a vast amount of attention. Many of those targeted online are first time voters, so the political party that manages to gain the attention of these voters has the greatest advantage. The main competition in this election is between Narendra Modi, the candidate for prime minister from the Bharatiya Janta Party-led National Democratic Alliance, and Rahul Gandhi, vice president of the Indian National Congress party, and the chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress and National Students Union of India3. Modi’s campaign is most famous for utilizing social media and all it has to offer. On Twitter alone, he has gained 3.74 million followers, and he personally publishes all of his tweets4. Gandhi, on the other hand, does not have a personal Twitter, but does have a fan-run account, on which his campaigning activates are kept up to date3. On Facebook, Modi has over 12 million followers, while Gandhi has a little more than 190,000 followers3. Just by these numbers alone, one can predict who is ahead in the pools. Modi does well to make the best of what the Internet and modern technology has to offer. He also makes good use of U.S. President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, even using Obama’s 2008 rally chant of “Yes We Can” on the forefront of his campaign during a speech he made in 20135. Him and his campaign team studied Obama’s presidential campaign and learned a lot from it. A key example of Obama’s influence would be tactics used to gain volunteers. President Obama, in his 2012 re-election campaign, used a national online platform for organizing volunteers called “Barack Obama Dashboard”,which allowed volunteers and supporters to be categorized using a point-based system to better strategize recruitment and organize events5. Modi launched the “India 272+ initiative”, which basically used the same strategy as the Obama Dashboard, and the volunteer group with the highest amount of points was allowed a one-on-one meeting with Modi himself5. Another example would be the use of Twitter. In order to target diverse voters, Obama created separate Twitter accounts for each state. Modi’s campaign did something similar, in which they set up Twitter accounts in the different languages spoken in India, including Telugu, Malayalam, and Marathi5. Lastly, using another social media outlet, both Obama and Modi used a Google Plus Hangout to conduct a question and answer session, drawing out thousands of viewers and even more questions5. The main disadvantage of using this tactic is the fact that only less than 20% of the population has access to the Internet. Although this is still a large amount of voters, the effect of using Internet based campaigns in India is not going to be as large as the effect in the United States, where 78% of people have access to the Internet6. Along with being the most innovate, these elections are also the most expensive in India’s history and second most expensive in world history, the first being the 2012 U.S. presidential race. The participating political parties are expected to spend about five billion U.S. dollars (300 billion rupees) on campaigns alone8. Besides the usage of social media outlets, there are also newer and more modern ways for voters to cast ballots. The new electronic voting machines (EVMs) have changed completely, and in turn, changed the election process in India. This new process helps to prevent people from rigging and tampering the machines. EVMs were first introduced in the elections in the assembly elections of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh in Dheli in 1998, and this year, over 170,000 new machines are being used throughout the country8. With these new and improved machines, the time in the voting booth is reduced, and it also much easier for illiterate people to use rather than a simple paper ballot system9. It also removes any invalid or doubtful votes casted, preventing any cause for controversies and election petitions9. Without these EVMs, not only would it take much more manpower and resources to count the paper ballots, there is a much more increased chance of the votes being tampered with, as well as a chance that people will not be able to understand then clearly. Also, the cost of each EVM is significantly less than the cost of paper ballets and ballet boxes together. India is an ever-growing country, still young, and still open to many developments not only in her government, but in her technologic resources as well. This upcoming election is further proof that India is a country that is willing to try to change, and be a leading innovator in the world. A country filled with new ideas, it can be said that India will be changing for years to come.

Sources: 1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/indian-parties-are-using-obama-style-campaign-tactics-in-crucial-election/2014/04/06/db7d4571-8333-4334-b252-3ebd99b25746_story.html 2. http://www.indian-elections.com/electionfaqs/electoral-rolls.html 3. http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/04/07/a-guide-to-indias-general-elections-2014/ 4. https://twitter.com/narendramodi 5. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/indiaatlse/2014/03/17/the-obamafication-of-indian-political-campaigns/ 6. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm#north 7. http://www.ndtv.com/elections/article/election-2014/india-s-spend-on-elections-could-challenge-us-record-report-493685 8. http://www.aegindia.org/2014/03/elections-2014-17-lakh-electronic-voting-machines-to-be-used-in-coming-elections/2148169.html 9. http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/india-polls-technology-meets-tradition-with-electronic-voting-machines-1.1314722 10. http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/09/world/asia/indias-first-social-media-election