Campaigns on your mobile

Here is an interesting report from the Hindu

Here is a pic, courtesy the Hindu

Needed: 'No Vote' switch on EVMs

(EVM = Electronic Voting Machine)

Like i said somewhere else in this blog, this is the election where hi-tech is at its highest level. The central elections last year saw the usage of SMS, media and cell-phones to a large extent by the parties. We were all mystified when we heard Vajpayeeji speaking to us (albeit in a recorded version) and asking us to support the 'India Shining' party. (Here is the opinion of our 'famous writer with an opinion on everything' on the campaign)

Well, this just got better with the recent state elections. What with party manifestos festooned on websites and the deft usage of captive media channels by both parties.

But this election will also be talked of as the one where the people were able to push back their opinions. Here is an example from Kerala. Also, we have Rediff.com's citizen reporters who are flooding the pages with their reporters.

We have hundreds of SMSs that are floating around and helping influence people's opinions. And these are not just the ones sent by the parties, but some crafted very interestinly to put thoughts into your head. Here is one that i got that was forwarded by a long-lost friend who must have found my number buried in mobile. It reads thus;

1 kg of rice at Rs. 2 per kg + colour TV - DMK
10 kgs rice free for all ration cards every month - ADMK
Free rice, free door delivery + Rs. 500 for grocery - DMDK
So nobody assures job for all. They want us to eat, watch TV and
sleep.
Thanmana Thamizhinamae Sindhiyungal (Think, Self respecting
tamilians)

Thought provoking, if you ask me.

A few days ago we watched the 'turncoat' Vaiko question how his former 'mentor' could provide rice for Rs. 2 per kg without begging from the central government, just days before his new ally announced a very similiar scheme. We read P. Chidambaram argue that rice at Rs. 2 per kg is possible. Intelligent and cohesive arguements, if you ask me.

But why did not these 'political luminaries' think of such simple logic.

The Thai Prime Minister was sent packing because thousands of people marked the 'no vote' column in the recent election. Can we do something like that here? Then after that what?

No anti-incumbency: 'The people are happy with the government' - Cho on Rediff

There are pre elections survey and then there are other surveys. Right from the time of Prannoy Roy and NDTV (when it was just a election content provider for Doordharshan) elections have meant surveys, predictions, exit polls and guess work. And this election is no different.

But it is interesting in the sense that there is more sophistication in the surveys and the way in which they are communicated. So much so that parties are trying to get the EC to ban publication of exit poll results in two stage elections so that they don't influence the second stage polling. In vain.

And while the Hindu-CNN-IBN survey has been doing a completely 'professional' job of laying out what could be the outcome (a sample here), there are some time tested methods that are being used by Cho. Ramaswamy edited Thuqlaq (could not find a weblink to this mag, am i looking right?)

In an interview on Rediff.com on the survey the editor himself describes the methodology;

Our reporters also have gone around 100 constituencies in the state. But we don't have any statistical method or any scientific basis for all this. Our reporters just talk to people and get their feedback. We have been doing this all along, and most of the time, we have been right.

The interview goes on to lay out that how the people are happy with the government and there is a wave for the incumbent.

Well, consider this about the editor of this mag. Maybe he has changed in the last 6 years. Definitely hope so.

PS: Interesting post on media and elections here

IITians in the fray

Ram Viswanathan at chennailiving beat me to the tape on this one, but it is indeed a breath of fresh air (not breadth) to see such committed yuppies on the fray. All the best to them.

As Ram says, they may not win, but i just hope they inspire more young professionals to take up 'realpolitik' or even just vote. The original article in the Hindu is here.

After all, the quote usually attributed to John F. Kennedy reads - "Bad governments are elected by the good people who do not vote" (i paraphase).

VOTE!

Citizen reporting: the democratisation of media?

The tsunami of December 2004 and the bombings in London well and truly brought citizen reporting to the fore. We all watched the camera mobile footage and pictures of the London bombings. And the mad scramble for 'tourist video' footage around such events is a norm nowadays.

The trucker's wife who captured the crash of the concorde on video must have experienced this. Even in the recent bomb blasts in Delhi, we saw News Channels offering rewards for footage shot at the site.

While an election is not as intense an event as some of the tragedies above, there is a lot going on that main stream media would be unable to capture. Or should that read 'chooses not to report'. And this is where 'citizen reporters' could play a role.

And they are alreay doing so, with the help of rediff.coms 'Be a Citizen Election Reporter!'. A simple web interface helps anybody with access to a computer and an opinion put in their thougts and from the slew of posts even in the first few days of launch, people seem to love this opportunity.

The best thing about this idea is that people are not held up by the so-called ethics of journalism. This is just a space for airing of views and opinions. A few extracts below to illustrate that;

Says Muthu Mani, a citizen reporter from Chennai
TN ministers are never seen
The AIADMK government is not at all bothered to meet the people's problems. Almost in every part of the state the roads are bad. The ministers and MLAs are never seen in their constituencies. Instead of blaming the central government, the state could have done something useful for the people. but they didn't.

While SS Venkata Subramanian begs to differ

On the other hand the the present government in tamilnadu have satsfactorily carried out its work though hiccups were there viz.strikes, frequent transfer of officials etc., For any government to sustain the common man needs food,shelter and water along with few pennies.

All poll's a stage

We are constantly amazed by the twists and turns, the zigs and zags, the flips and flops that our politicians make, especially during election time. The closest analogy to this that one can find would be the highly developed Tamil film genre. With the 'amma' sentiment and 'thaali' sentiment you will can be assured of the most unexpected things to happen.

And that is what happens during elections too.

Arch enemies join up while bosom buddies split up. And that is just the beginning. There is also high physical drama when a well known star campaigner brings down the stage (not the house, mind you) with his not too light presence. And again, this is just the beggining. We have 35 more fun filled days to go.

The link between the film world and politics is well know and nicely documented here. And the interesting poll on this site rates Makkal Thilagam MGR as the most liked (what a surprise!) followed by 'Amma' (no surprise there!) . People seem to like Aringnar Anna more than MK (what a surprise again).

And the popularity charts may be right yet and keep going up for the AIADMK with a host of film stars joining the campaign trail, the new mother Simran being the latest. The article quotes a list as below;

What on earth is happening in Tamilnadu? Even north Indian actresses want to support ADMK! Radharavi, S S Chandran, Gundu Kalyanam, Pandian, C R Saraswati, Senthil, Vijay Kumar, Murali, Manobala, Anandraj, S V Sekhar, Radha, Ambika…half of Kodambakkam will be found in this endless list!

And soon someone pulls poor Kushboo into the fray.