Power To The People

From helping citizens register into the electoral rolls to analysing data on candidates and their performance, technology platforms are reshaping political conversations to give voters a stronger voice

- Divya J Shekhar

Every vote counts. If that is difficult to believe, consider how in Mizoram Lalchhandama Ralte of the Mizoram National Front (MNF) won the Tuival constituency seat with just three votes more than Congress legislator RL Pianmawia. Consider how, in Rajasthan, at least 15 constituencies had more NOTA (None of The Above) votes than the victory margin of the winners. In Asind, for example, Jabbar Singh Sankhala of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated Manish Mewara of the Congress party by only 154 votes, while NOTA votes stood at 2,943. Finally, consider how, in Madhya Pradesh, so close was the fight between the BJP and the Congress that the winning margin in about 73 assembly constituencies was less than 5 percent.

Long story short, electoral victories can be a game of small margins. This possibly explains why political parties operating in a smartphone savvy democracy are going all out to woo individual voters in various ways, including setting up warrooms for social media campaigns, SMS or WhatsApp alerts, or targeted video/audio messaging. On the other hand, helping voters get past the propaganda blitzkrieg are technology platforms that teach them how to navigate the electoral system and make informed, data-driven choices.

As the general election nears, these websites or mobile applications are conducting detailed background checks on political candidates, or helping voters—predominantly urban—understand the enrolment process and timelines. Some are getting citizens to interact with their politicians directly, while others are parsing and simplifying public data to provide information about socio-political trends.