Mktg - India;Elections & Technology

New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) Expect a slew of electronic appeals for your vote in the coming Delhi assembly elections as political parties are planning to harness new technologies to reach out to voters.

Leaders of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are holding meetings with IT experts to make best use of the technologies in order to impress the voters.

'Things are changing with time and we have to search for new ways to impress voters. The electronic and computer technology can play an important role during the campaigning process,' J.P Aggarwal, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president, told IANS.

The DPCC is holding a campaign committee meeting later Friday to chart out a campaign strategy. The party has also set up a 24-hour control room at its office to cater to candidates.

'All wings of the party will meet to discuss the campaign strategy. You need to keep in mind interests of different kinds of voters, ranging from a college student to a business executive to a rickshaw puller to a retired person. We have to plan the campaign accordingly,' Aggarwal said.

The party plans to use SMSes and e-mails besides sending computerised voice recorded messages that will be played to telephone subscribers.

On voice recorded messages, candidates will introduce themselves and list what they plan to do for the constituency if they are elected.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Mewa Ram Arya also said: 'Our pre-recorded message will be heard on mobile phones and landline telephones. Besides, there will be SMSes and e-mails.'

Both the parties have decided to upload profiles of all their candidates on their party website. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley is heading his party's hi-tech campaign strategy.

'We are also planning to make short documentaries, audio-video clips and songs to publicise the work done by the Congress party government in the last 10 years,' Aggarwal added.

The Congress wants to rope in some stars to add glamour at campaign rallies. The names will be decided at the campaign committee meeting.

As for the BJP, 'the party is also organising special sessions for the candidates to make them conversant with the nomination process and filing of nomination papers,' Arya said.