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Welcome To Cyberpoll

Psephology has been bitten by the computer bug, and statistics-hungry parties are logging in

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Welcome To Cyberpoll
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CASTE percentages, constituency profiles and voting patterns packaged in software are steadily replacing files crammed with dog-eared data sheets. For those who have them, computer rooms in party offices are becoming the new centres of activity. And though the reams of data, charts and statistics churned out here may not pave the way to Parliament this summer, they are lending an edge to election strategy.

Municipal wards are getting micro scoped down to the last lane, and options like poll analyses, candidate profiles and interviews on the Internet are being explored by a few parties. Sometime ago, in the Congress for instance, the only sign of computer literacy was Rajiv Gandhi's fascination with systems. The party's collective cyber-wisdom didn't improve with Narasimha Rao tapping keyboards, but the elections are helping as frenetic activity at the All India Congress Committee's (AICC) computer room in New Delhi indicates. And heading it all is the party's portly cyber-buff, Vishwajit Prithvijit Singh.

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Here, election-specific material is being compiled and analysed from a database of responses to a questionnaire that the party sent out five months ago. Twelve queries to all its MLAs, MPs, and candidates defeated in both the assembly and Lok Sabha polls, and a similar questionnaire to pradesh, district and block-level Congress committees have invited a flood of feedback. Keyed into computers, this is the stuff of constituency profiles that will help candidates go forth and cross swords with the competition, beyond cyberspace. Primarily, it will help the selectors decide who fits the constituency best. "At the time of selecting candidates, we will have a clear picture of the constituency," explains AICC spokesman V.N. Gadgil. Recently, some 14 agencies were interviewed to help with the computerisation of the Congress. A firm each in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Hyderabad are among the four shortlisted.

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However, when it comes to charting political fortunes in virtual space, the BJP likes to believe it is a step ahead. In some state units, the BJP's backroom boys, who have always been the first to dish out poll arithmetic, charts and percentages, are busy keying in constituency contents. The party's Maha-rashtra unit has led the way by picking up Political Manager '96, the software that will package the state BJP strategy in the coming election.

Developed by a Canada-based Indian and marketed locally by Indiana Exports, the software allows for detailed analyses, from the municipal ward to the outer reaches of the Lok Sabha constituency. Caste and minority break-ups and details of local activities give the candidate an insight, courtesy this software, accessible to any party that wishes to pick it up. "The software is available, but do they have the data to use it?" asks Atul Bhatkalkar, Maha-rashtra BJP secretary, seeking to establish his party's lead in this area.

The BJP's Karnataka unit has carved its own niche, inaccessible to the competition. "We have developed our own software, in-house. It will help analyse the past elections and prepare for the coming one," says M.P. Kumar, treasurer of the Karnataka BJP, and head of its campaign in the state. Kumar runs a software development company, Srujana Technology, which is providing the cyber backup. The party won four out of 28 seats in Karnataka in the last election, polling 28.6 per cent of the votes. It hopes to gain more than the six seats narrowly lost last time because of the Rajiv Gandhi factor. Meanwhile, in the run-up to the poll, a Compaq pentium computer, compatible with multimedia, has been installed to add to the Karnataka unit's bytepower. Electronic mail and wiring into the Internet are two short steps ahead.

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Curiously, at the centre, the Congress still hasn't gone in for e-mail despite its newly acquired cyber-friendly disposition. The party will restrict poll-time communication with its many district offices through fax. So, Congressmen, unless they do so privately, won't be Web-surfing. "No e-mail. I prefer keeping my information to myself," is Singh's terse explanation for keeping know how Delhi-centric. However, some Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs were recently given notebook computers and urged to keep in touch with their constituencies through NICNET, which is accessible from the computer room in Parliament.

For those who don't have their gizmos and geeks in place, the netters are at the door. An Internet publishing company, Nilima & Associates, is covering the elections on the Net and offering a number of options to both users and parties. 'Elections on the Net', oriented towards the non-resident Indian and businessman, has six modules on offer: interviews with prime candidates; daily bulletins from the election front beginning this week; sectoral analysis (for example, telecom); political commentary from known columnists; opinion polls, including one of net-users worldwide to find out how much significance the NRI and business community are attaching to the Indian elections; and, in a lighter vein, political jokes and cartoons.

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"Covering the elections online gives whoever comes on-site a worldwide reach. Political parties can use the net through us. They can put out election manifestos, policies, profiles or have candidates of their choice interviewed," says Bhupesh Trivedi, who started 'Elections on the Net'. This will be one way for him to recover the cost of poll coverage, which net-surfers will get free. But this may not be easy. "They can't use the Internet to influence people, since the users are so few here. Parties will have to work it into their strategies like companies do. I see this getting established by the next election," says Miheer Mafatlal, president of the Internet Users Club of India.

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The number of individual Internet users in India is estimated at around 3,000. But this is not the figure Trivedi has in mind as he contacts political parties like the Shiv Sena, checking if they would like to feature on the Net—it's the large net-surfing world beyond. While many parties still don't have much of an idea about the net, the BJP has already made its debut. The party put out its economic policy, resolutions and daily proceedings on the Internet during its national convention in Bombay last November. "We contacted Indians and newspapers abroad through the Net. This time the profiles of the BJP's 500 candidates can go on the Net," says Atul Shah, south Bombay president of the BJP. Some homework, before tapping NRIs, included establishing that there are 50,000 Indian net-users in America.

Reports of the hi-tech avenues that both factions of the Telugu Desam are tapping have not been confirmed so far. "We have not planned anything like this yet," says Ramachandra Reddy, a leader from the Chandrababu faction of the TDP, referring to speculation about his party's foray into laser technology to resurrect N.T. Rama Rao's image. However, Chief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan's restrictions aside, efforts are on to sell both factions some hi-tech ware. "I will be seeing some electronic devices and software that has been created by some parties here. They are trying to sell it to the Parvathi faction," says Uttam Kumar of the Hyderabad based Heart Entertainment Kumar, who created hi-tech special effects for NTR's museum (now the subject of a bitter court dispute between the TDP factions), will himself not contribute any techno frills to this election campaign.

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With the kind of restrictions that the Election Commission has placed, parties may have to look at innovations. Technology could provide some. Says a Shiv Sena minister: "Most of us don't understand computers, and the Internet sounds like outer space. But it is one space that Seshan has not checked so far."

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