Obama Prompts India Politicians to Become Tech-Savvy
By Abhijit Deb, March 6, 2009

Indian politicians watched Barack Obama run a successful campaign using technology to reach the masses. Now they're trying the tactic at home

Barack Obama used a unique grassroots campaign that leveraged technology to reach out to the masses. His assets included an impressive 13 million e-mail addresses and 2 million friends on his social networking site, according to published data. Now Indian politicians are taking a leaf out his stunning campaign and are trying to use technology to reach out to the electorate.

A few parties, including Congress and BJP, are also reaching out to specialised consultants, and going beyond plain vanilla websites to help them plan their campaigns. Robinder N Sachdev, president, The Imagindia Institute, a think-tank which helped to mobilise Indians as a lobby group in the American elections, is now in discussions with campaign managers of various political parties.

Mr. Sachdev plans to leverage cell phones, which has a much higher penetration in India compared to the internet, to reach out directly to voters. "At every rally, we will ask people to send in three issues that matter to them most on the SMS number we set up. Even if 10-15% of the 1000 people who attend the rally do that, you've got a sizeable number," he said.

The candidates can then address the issues that matter most to the constituency through targeted campaigns. A rating of all the issues can be done based on the responses received. And, a la Obama, who built what is probably one of the most valuable databases of e-mail addresses and contact details, the mobile numbers can help political parties build a database through which they can directly reach out to voters.

The Congress and BJP are spending more than Rs 1 crore on online, e-mail, mobile this time. Although party contributions from individual voters is not yet happening because of low penetration of the internet and payment gateways, BJP said it is pushing around half a million mails everyday. "Though the penetration of internet is still minuscule, 60% of internet users live in the top eight cities which impacts some 50 Lok Sabha seats, so it's a medium worth considering," said Pradyut Bora, convenor of BJP's IT cell.

The BJP has also cross-linked its website to different portals and are keenly promoting it through the Google search engine. It also plans to use Facebook and Orkut. Others like BSP are in the process of signing up a Delhi firm to launch a website, while UP CM Mayawati is expected to soon launch her blog.
The Congress is updating its website, given that online medium are increasing becoming more central. "We are in the process of giving a cleaner and leaner look to our five-year-old website," Biswajeet Prithvi Singh, chairman, computer department, Congress, told ET.

The relatively lower cost of an online campaign also makes it a compelling proposition, according to Mrutunjoy Mishra, co-founder of online firm juxtconsult.com. "By spending Rs 3-4 lakh, one can get around 4 million impressions which is far cheaper than channels like television or outdoor," he said.

Parties like CPM are, however, a little sceptical of the power of online. "In a poor country like ours face-to-face contact with voter will always occupy centre stage. Online campaigns can be a successful model for America where internet penetration is 100%," said Prasanjeet Bose, convenor, research unit, CPM. "The Obamisation of Indian politics has little relevance to the bulk of voters that actually elects MPs on the basis of caste, creed and Rs 2 rice promises," admitted Mr. Mishra. "But nonetheless, this is just the beginning. By general elections 2014, the results will start to show," he added.