Google has launched of a special bi-lingual website to track Indian election and as of now it mainly lists news related to the election, with a separate tab dedicated to videos and another one detailing the process one needs to go through toregister as a voter.
Users can filter news results based on state — Chattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan — and even by political parties – Congress, BJP, BSP and AAP and links to their websites & YouTube channels. Additionally, the portal links to websites of Election Commission of India andAssociation for Democratic Reforms.
The videos tab links to YouTube partners which in this case include NDTV, Times Now, Headlines Today, CNN IBN, Aaj Tak, ABP News and Zee News. It also shows videos uploaded by political parties in the recent past and hangouts done by political representatives in the recent past. The voter registration tab links to resources at Election Commission of India website apart from answering a lot of questions voters might have.
Google election pages normally include more tabs such as insights and trends which are missing in this case. It is possible that Google will integrate such information as the polls start. It also needs to be pointed out that Google had tied-up with HT to launch a Lok Sabha 2009 site that offered information to voters on election news, MP profiles, candidate quotes and polling booth locations. It also offered a mapping aide for searching for information according to constituencies and had a very useful tool to check for your name in voter rolls in Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Nagpur and Pune. The website however has been pulled since and returns a 404 error now.
Other developments online around upcoming Indian elections
- Election Commission said that it is going to keep an eye on politicians usage of Social Media, to ensure that they will not flout the model code of conduct. It had summoned social media companies to a meeting last week to discuss monitoring of content on these platforms to ensure that there is no breach of code of conduct by candidates and political parties in the upcoming elections
- Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has tied-up with Facebookto provide ‘Know Your Neta’ service on mobiles for free allowing users to access information on politicians.
- Election data site, IndiaVotes has mapped information on Parliamentary Constituency and Assembly Constituency across India on a map which can be accessed at IndiaVotes Maps.