General Elections 2009

Corporate Initiative for Social Responsibility

Even Google has jumped on the election bandwagon with the Google India Elections Center developed in partnership with Hindustan Times. Available in English and Hindi, the site allows users to locate their constituencies and polling stations, access election news and candidate quotes, and become better informed of the issues by making available area-specific development data such as urbanization, crime rate, literacy rate, and poverty, among other indicators.

The three largest citizen mobilization campaigns are those backed by corporate houses: Jaago Re supported by Tata Tea, My Idea sponsored by Idea Cellular, and Lead India, backed by The Times of India, India’s largest English language daily. My Idea is an online space for citizens to submit and discuss their ideas to change India. Lead India, which began as a televised talent hunt for India’s next generation of leaders, positions itself as the voice of young India and features active discussion forums on various hot topics. Jaago Re, started by civic-minded youth in their twenties, is most directly tied to the election with its online voter registration facility and FAQs, an issues blog, and election news.

Indian Film Stars are not away from Election Fever

Some are contesting and some are campaigning. But even those film stars who don't fall in either category are making their voice heard in the run-up to the Indian general election by urging people to vote. Industry insiders say the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, the city where the Hindi movie industry is based, has galvanised the film fraternity to take the election process seriously. Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, John Abraham, Kamal Haasan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Anurag Kashyap, Shriya Sharan, Shruti Haasan and Sushmita Sen are among those who have joined the chorus. The voter is not going to bring in a leader. He's going to bring in a 'public servant'. My advice to them is not to look for leaders. You are the leader. Think of it that way. Respect yourself. Vote in (the right candidate) and vote out what you believe is wrong," Kamal Haasan. His 23-year-old daughter Shruti too has joined the bandwagon of stars who are urging citizens to vote. He said "Everyone must vote and be the change that they want to see". Sushmita says "Please vote for whoever you do, but please do vote." Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, writing on his blog, has pressed the need to vote and "choose our governance". The elections are upon us...colleagues of mine propound the importance of how every citizen must exercise their vote. Exercise it so true democracy can flourish. It is the most important task that we all undertake - choosing our governance," he posted on his blog. Actor John Abraham has lent his support to the "Ungli Utha, Vote Kar" campaign. Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar recently shot a music video asking young India to vote during the April-May general election. He says it was "Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na" star Imran Khan's brainchild. The credit for the music video must go to Imran Khan.

Then there are those who have plunged into the poll fray themselves. While Shatrughan Sinha of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will face Shekhar Suman of the Congress in the Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar, the Samajwadi Party has pitched actress-turned-social activist Nafisa Ali for the Lucknow seat. BJP MP Vinod Khanna will be contesting from Gurdaspur, Punjab, and actress and Lok Sabha MP Jaya Prada has got the Samajwadi Party ticket for Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. Debuting on the political front is filmmaker Prakash Jha as a Lok Janshakti Party nominee contesting from Bihar's West Champaran constituency. Many stars who are not contesting have joined hands with various parties to campaign. One of the biggest stars to join politics this year is Sanjay Dutt. He has now become general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, which also boasts of actress MP Jaya Bachchan.

Polling Schedule

The following polling schedule for the 2009 General Elections was announced by the Chief Election Commissioner of India, N. Gopalaswami, on March 2, 2009:

April 16 - Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep

April 23 - Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand

April 30 - Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu

May 7 - Bihar, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi

May 13 - Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Puducherry

Voting Infrastructure

Electronic Voting Machines

The election will be conducted using the Electronic voting machine (EVM), as was done with the 2004 election. There are 1,368,430 voting machines available across the country.

The complete EVM consists mainly of two units - (a) Control Unit and (b) Balloting Unit with cable for connecting it with Control unit. A Balloting Unit caters upto 16 candidates. Four Balloting Units linked together catering in all to 64 candidates can be used with one control unit. The control unit is kept with the Presiding Officer and the Balloting Unit is used by the voter for polling.

The Balloting Unit of EVM is a small Box-like device, on top of which each candidate and his/her election symbol is listed like a big ballot paper. Against each candidate’s name, a red LED and a blue button is provided. The voter polls his vote by pressing the blue button against the name of his desired candidate.

Polling Stations

There are 828,804 polling stations in the country, a 20% increase over the 2004 election. This has been done mainly to avoid vulnerability to threat and intimidation, geographical barriers and to reduce the distance travelled by voters.

The CEC also announced that the polling station in Banej village in the Una segment of Junagadh Lok Sabha constituency, Gujarat has the unique claim to being the only polling station in the country that caters to only one elector - Guru Shree Bharatdasji Bapu, a priest of a Shiva temple in the middle of the Gir Forest.

Electoral Rolls

The electoral rolls had to be completely updated because of the delimitation that took effect from 2008. The process of updating the electoral rolls are expected to continue until the last date of filing nominations. 714 million people are eligible to vote in 2009, up 6.4% (43 million) from 2004.

This election will also see almost the entire country (except Assam, Nagaland and Jammu & Kashmir) use photo electoral rolls. This will mean that photos of the electors would be printed on the electoral rolls which is intended to facilitate easy identification and prevent impersonation.

In addition to the photo electoral rolls, the electors will also need to provide separate photo identification. Those electors who have already been issued Electoral’s Photo Identification Cards (EPIC) will only be permitted to use the EPIC for identification at the polling station. According to the EC, 82% of the country’s electors (except those in Assam) have been issued EPIC.

Jaago Re by Tata Tea

Lead India Campaign by Times of India - Videos