Abstract
The election campaigns for the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha or People’s House) in April 2009 demonstrated how the poll battles were fought deploying a mix of the traditional campaigning methods and information and communication technologies. The political parties and candidates used the mix to woo over
453 million voters who chose representatives of the 543 constituencies to govern India, the world’s largest democratic nation.
Gandhinagar was among the hotly contested constituencies where the use of new technologies and the Internet was made more imperative. It also witnessed the time-tested traditional campaign methods being used to attract voters. Among the candidates was a towering 81-year political personality, Mr L K Advani, who was projected as Prime Minister-in-Waiting by his Bharatiya Janata Party. His local managers orchestrated the campaign using the mix of the conventional tools through a network of grass-root workers and youngsters of the cyberage. His Congress rival Suresh Patel, and internationally acclaimed danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, contesting as an independent, similarly exploited the mix. Politicians, workers and senior media persons were interviewed, websites were studied and print and electronic media were used to record the data.
This paper demonstrates how the parties deployed websites, e-mails, SMS, blogs, Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, radio and TV; yet they did not ignore banners, posters, handbills, processions, rallies and street corner meetings to reach out to the voters. Campaigns in the constituency included involvement of civic groups, film stars, rural folk artistes and urban dancers.
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