Over the next few weeks, the largest act of democracy this world has seen will take place in the most unlikely of places. Though it may seem a long time for such an act to occur, over the course of April and May, a 28 day democratic election will take place in India, consisting of 5 phases.

Nearly 830,000 polling stations will be used and more than a million electronic voting machines have been sent out, attempting to place voting stations no more than 2 kilometers out of range for voters. It is approximated that of the 1.17 billion people in India, nearly 714 million people – more than twice the US population and 10 times that of France’s – will be eligible to cast ballots. Never in history has there been a democratic exercise of this magnitude.

While the results of the election aren’t expected to be in until mid-May, the focus should shift to how candidates will reach out to voters who reside in the most rural of areas in India. While vastly growing urban centers are the norm in many parts of India, large stretches of minimally developed and largely agricultural dominate the Indian subcontinent. The stark differences between these areas of India, as well as the languages spoken, the different states, and other factors have strengthened the differences of this nation, fragmented by differences in religion, region, caste, and many other factors. However, the potential success of this election can be a sign towards a developing unity in one of the world’s most promising economic and growing centers.

So how exactly do candidates (unlike the US, they are more defined by parties rather an individual), reach out to the large variety of the voting public? It seems that the strength of social networks have been used by one of the three main players. Sonia Gandhi has made use of YouTube website in order to spread her kisan rally. As the video passes on from one node of the Indian social network (which, due to the caste system as well as the socioeconomic class system, is quite complicated), it has gained major popularity and received thousands of hits on its first day.

LK Advani of the BJP party has made use of his own weblog; however the BJP has bigger plans. Trying to employ some of the recently-elected American president’s “Obamagic,” the BJP is planning on hiring Kevin Bertram, the grand architect of the aggressive, tech-savvy campaign that helped elevate President Obama to victory. During the Obama campaign, Bertram’s strategy incorporated what his own company, Distributive Networks, does in its promo campaign development for mobile phones. He developed content and ringtone downloads that were specific to the Obama campaign, and wants to utilize a similar strategy in the BJP campaign. This may work even better in India, as we have seen that US mobile telecommunication networks severely lag behind those of Europe and Asia. Landlines are less popular in India, where mobile phones are carried by all urban residents of all ages, and they are surprisingly present throughout some of the most rural areas in India, with the help of major telecom companies in India, philanthropic movements by foreign and domestic organizations, and the stronger economic ability of the nation as a whole.

Manipulating the power of social networks is likely to be a useful tool for the parties vying for victory in India, as the population itself is gigantic and difficult to reach out to all at once. Information and propaganda trickling down from the urban centers to the agrarian countryside via family or business connections may prove to be the best way to “spread the word.”

Nevertheless, it is safe to say that this monumental democratic movement will go down in history as a remarkable event, likely to highlight the strength of utilizing social networks and the undying strength of democracy.

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Relevant Websites

http://scene-india.blogspot.com/2009/03/indian-elections-biggest-democratic.html

http://searchandhra.com/politics/bjp-may-hire-obama-advisor-for-poll-campaign

http://www.cleveland.com/world/index.ssf/2009/04/india_to_hold_worlds_largest_d.html