Google India launches elections portal as 'one-stop destination' for all ballot news

To bring a measure of sanity in the frenzy that is the election season, Google has launched an election portal that will help voters understand the electoral process, get access to all the news related to elections and politics, get detailed information on specific political parties and also get linked to the official web presence of each party.

The Elections Portal has been designed, according to the official post, to 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 project, the portal will cover news information and videos related to state elections for Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram. The portal will pull in news for leading publications and broadcasters both in English and Hindi.

Google’s new one-stop destination for all your Indian political news

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. There is no mention of data being pulled from other social networks like Twitter or Facebook, though, and it is hoped that this will be added by the time the General Elections of 2014 roll around. The portal comes at a time when millions are gearing up to vote in five state assembly elections over the last few weeks of the year, a forerunner to the May 2014 elections.

In addition, the portal will also offer information on how to register for voting along with a section on frequently asked questions regarding voting and registration. The company, while explaining the rationale behind the portal, has said that, “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.”

Google has said that 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 population in the upcoming elections.

Earlier reports had indicated that election-related search queries on Google have shown considerable increase and the interest in news information related to elections and politics have started to peak. The company has said that leading political parties are now active on most social media platforms and users will now be able to access information sent out by the same and connect directly with the candidates in their constituency.