Last week, Google launched an elections portal www.google.co.in/elections that 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. 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.
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.
In addition to this, the portal will also offer information on how to register for voting along with a section on frequently asked questions around voting and registration. Our intent is to empower voters with all the information they need at a single destination for upcoming general elections. Over time we will add more functionality to enable users to interact and engage with the candidates, so that they are not simply watching from afar, but participating in, engaging with and shaping the political process in a democratic way.
With over 200 million Internet users in the country, the Internet audience in India has reached a critical scale and will play an important role in influencing the decisions of a large proportion of the urban Indian population in the upcoming elections. Elections related search queries on Google have shown a considerable increase and the interest in news information related to elections and politics have started to peak. Leading political parties are active on most social media platforms, and users will be able to access all the information sent out by the political parties on platforms like YouTube, Google+ and connect directly with the candidates in their constituency.
Posted By: Chetan Krishnaswamy, Head of Public Policy and Government Relations, Google India