Google Launches Web Portal to Cover Elections in India
As the state elections are happening in a few states of India and the Lok Sabha elections are expected to take place in 2014, search engine major Google has launched a portal to deliver elections-related information to voters in India.
Announced today, Nov. 28, Google said in its India blog that the new portal will provide updates on campaigns, news and information related to polls across states.
Moreover, it will assist voters in India to understand the electoral process, get access to all the news related to elections and politics, get detailed information on specific political parties, Google said in its blog post.
The elections in India cover an electorate of over 700 million in a countrywide population of 1.25 billion. Currently, the focus of all major political parties is on the first-time voters – nearly 125 million – who will be eligible to vote in 2014 elections.
Considering that no single party got 125 million votes in the previous elections held in 2009, this young voter segment holds the key to deciding the fate of main political parties.
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As majority of young voters are also believed to be connected through Internet, this time the political parties are aggressively running their campaigns in the cyberspace – particularly using the social media.
“The Elections Portal will serve as a one stop destination to help voters get answers to their elections and voting-related queries to make an informed decision,” said the company.
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In the first phase of the launch, the portal will cover news information and videos related to state elections for Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram covering news from leading publications and broadcasters both in English and Hindi.
Users will also be able to watch content hosted by YouTube partners for elections and links to Hangouts done by political representatives in the recent past, informed Chetan Krishnaswamy, head of Public Policy and Government Relations, Google India.
Here’s the link for Google’s new portal: www.google.co.in/elections
Photo courtesy: Google
