The use of digital media was one of the highlights of the Lok Sabha election. With almost 40% of the voters under 35, and a majority of them using digital media such as the Internet and mobile phones to access information and express their opinions, these mediums were used aggressively by the mainstream parties to engage them.
Germinait Solutions Pvt Ltd, Founder and CEO: Ranjit Nair - This year-old start-up developed the ElectionTracker, an online service based on artificial intelligence technology that trawls the Internet for information on politicians and parties. This data is then aggregated and analysed. The firm hopes to sell the service in markets abroad. Ashesh Shah / Mint
The demand for a platform for dialogue between the governed and those seeking to govern saw some smart upcoming and existing digital companies creating a slew of new products and services, such as bulk-calling services on cellphones, tools to conduct mobile phone surveys and artificial intelligence-based, or AI-based, software, that could track, even analyse, voter sentiments online.
“This was India’s first Internet election and (it) marks the beginning of a digital democracy,” says Rishi Jaitly, senior policy analyst, Google India Pvt. Ltd, whose role was to evangelize the benefits of Internet usage for election campaigns among the country’s political class.
According to ViziSense, an online audience measurement service of the Mumbai-based digital marketing and technology company Komli Media Pvt. Ltd, at least four million unique users searched the Internet for information on politics and politicians in April alone.
In Delhi, Viplav Communications Pvt. Ltd, a start-up that has identified electoral process and e-governance as one of its key areas of operations, put together a portfolio of digital tools and services. One such service, the SuperCaller, essentially a digital tool, can make at least 500,000 phone calls a day.
SuperCaller was used by Congress candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia in Guna in Madhya Pradesh and by several Biju Janata Dal, or BJD, candidates in Orissa to reach out to voters. “By using SuperCaller, a politician can reach all the voters in Orissa for a total cost of Rs50 lakh. In contrast, one rally in a distant town reached by a helicopter can cost Rs7–8 lakh,” says Pallav Pandey, CEO, Viplav Communications.
An IIT Kanpur graduate, Pandey worked in the US for a digital company for several years before returning to India in 2003 to set up Viplav Communications. “I was socially motivated in those days and wanted to contribute to a change in the system, and the political system is where I decided to begin,” he says. His first goal was to help politicians manage their constituencies efficiently, using technology to generate research and data.