There's plenty of drama expected from the 15th Lok Sabha (House of the People) elections, to be held in phases from 16 April to 13 May. These elections will see a battle for power at the centre. But they may gain an extra level of significance by turning out to be India's first truly high tech political battles.

In 2002, when the election commission in India introduced electronic voting machines (EVMs), it became a major technology intervention in the history of elections in the country. A massive training and awareness programme was initiated for officials, voters and political parties alike. Officials who were familiar with the functioning of the EVMs were deputed in constituencies to boost the confidence of the candidates and voters.

Traditionally, Indians cast their votes by marking a paper ballot with a rubber stamp. It was an arduous process and took days to count the votes. It was also not free of fraud. The EVMs proved to be cost effective, user-friendly, and tamper-proof. 

An EVM consists of two units, a control unit and a balloting unit, connected by a five-metre cable. The balloting unit is placed inside the voting compartment, while the control unit is with the presiding officer or the polling officer. When the polling officer activates the EVM, the voter can press the blue button on the balloting unit against the preferred candidate and symbol to cast his vote.

The EVMs were devised and designed by Election Commission in collaboration with Bharat Electronics of Bangalore and Electronic Corporation of India, Hyderabad. The EVMs are now manufactured by the two companies. They are also set to be adapted for visually impaired voters also. The apex court has directed the Election Commission of India to ensure that all EVMs are equipped with Braille signs.

Election campaigns are also being shaped by technology. Campaigns have moved beyond television to the internet, an emerging platform for election canvassing. Internet campaigning is especially targeted at the young. This is especially significant in a country like India, which has nearly 100 million new voters in the forthcoming Lok Sabh elections.

As early as the 2002 elections in Gujarat, chief minister Narendra Modi used both internet and mobile media to promote his campaign. His party sent out SMSs and regularly updated his website. His website reportedly received more than 20,000 hits a day. The website’s database was also available in the local language, Gujarati. Going a step further to interact with the masses online, the website offered the option to chat live with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders every night. This was in stark contrast to traditional hand-painted posters and banners and door to door canvassing. However, skeptics think that increased internet penetration, especially in rural areas, is important for the success of online campaigns.

However, the new age politicians are not to be deterred. BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani started a blog to interact with internet users. Advani said in his blog, 'Welcome, friends, to my blog. My young colleagues who have created this website told me that a political portal without a blog is like a letter without a signature. I quickly accepted this compelling logic.'

'I am excited by the idea of using the internet as a platform for political communication and, especially, for election campaign,' he added. Professing to be technology-agonistic, he explained his philosophy on technology, 'Anything that works, deserves to be welcomed. In my own political life spanning six decades, I have enthusiastically embraced every new communication technology - from the early simple Casio digital diary to Ipod and Iphone.'

Advani’s online campaign may inspire other political leaders to reach out to the masses through their own blogs, giving a more personal touch to their campaigns. Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has also entered the blogosphere.

With the internet becoming an important medium for election campaigns, how far off is internet voting? Estonia was the first country to introduce internet elections. However, the fear of fraud associated with online voting has deterred most countries. The argument in favour of e-voting is that it could cut down costs and increase turnout.

What could be the format of future elections in India? How would technology revolutionise elections in the future? Former president, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam visualised the future elections thus: 'I visualise an election scenario where a candidate files his nomination from a particular constituency. Immediately the election officer verifies his/her authenticity from the national citizen ID database through multifactor authentication, through a multipurpose citizen ID card.'

Kalam mulled over the possibility of such a situation. 'Election officer sitting at the remote block of the country decides on the spot and the election process starts. All the voters vote from their home through virtual polling booths. Is it a dream? Is it possible? If possible, when shall we have it?' Kalam asked.

This would be a task of great magnitude, said Kalam. 'To establish a system what I have visualised, we need a high bandwidth broadband connectivity across the many government departments such as state and district administration, Election Commission, universities, banks, home/police departments, insurance companies etc,' he said.  'This scenario requires vertical and horizontal grid established across various institutions. Hence, we can draw information and feed information from these grids for seamless flow of data to achieve the goal of good governance.'

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