New trends in Indian voting

My black and orange phone beeps gently.

I blink, then smile, my hand reaching out to cocoon the phone.

What I had thought to be a welcome message from one of my many friends who were only too glad to have me back in town, turned out to be a random contestant in the upcoming elections, citing close to seven reasons why I should exercise my franchise in his favour.

The message is not in isolation.

Sure enough, others soon follow, declaring their party manifestos, pitting themselves like matadors against their adversaries, kicking up the dirt on them, singing paeans about their own political party…you get the drift, don’t you?

And all and sundry can stand for elections – you do know that, don’t you? What else would explain a tennis player banking upon his sports popularity by standing in the local elections? Not his flashy, pearly smile, I’m sure.

The last 2-3 years saw political parties cashing in on the digital media bandwagon to connect with voters. So conventional door-to-door campaigning got an overhaul, stepping back to make way for tripping-over-each-other social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and Orkut that ran huger than huge online campaigns, videos, audios – you name it.

This year even mobile phones saw exploitation.

Which explains that beep on your phone, and the longish rant by a party rep about the so-called ‘atrocities’ that opponents have unleashed on today’s aam aadmi (common man).

Even Internet companies like Yahoo and Google are not far behind, collaborating with national dailies to launch election sites, where voters, besides creating their login ids, can dabble in debates with like-minded voters, 'expressing' their views about their concerns and the way out too.

And then you have parties running up humongous bills to get exclusive rights to Oscar-winning tracks, their renditions done by sexy, nubile singers who go into raptures while mouthing heaps of praise on the said party in question.

Gamers need not feel left out. Enterprising companies like 7Seas Technologies pay full heed to their unique demands, developing riveting games where politicians aimatedly pummel their adversaries black and blue, throw mean karate chops, hurl abuses,stick their tongues out cheekily, shout loud Whoopees, and kick some politico's ass.

All’s fair in love and war, they say.

And this is definitely war.

At its best.

Now whether the wired generation are wooed by these 70 year-old+ candidates in these General elections, and actually DO vote.

Or openly flaunt their (unmarked) middle fingers to the world, snorting derisively at the so-called 'fair' elections.

Now that is something which waits to be seen.