The Hindu Business Line : Pollspeak is now tech-savvy

IF you're an aficionado of political pep talks, this phone call could rev up your spirits. Imagine getting calls from your local MP or the Prime Minister himself on your breakfast table, so what if it is automated. Mumbai has finally opened up to the 3G of election campaigning.

Said Mr Kirit Somaiya, the BJP MP from Mumbai's North-East constituency that extends between the suburbs of Mulund and Kurla, "The e-campaigning initiative, the first of its kind that we have undertaken, has evoked an overwhelming response. It includes a communication mix of automated telephonic messaging, manual telephonic messaging and SMS."

Mr Nirav Chandan, Secretary of the BJP Yuva Morcha monitoring the initiative, said: "The campaign, which runs in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati, has targeted 2,60,000 resident telephone lines in Mumbai's North-East constituency, of which 1,16,000 calls were effective hits and responded to. The campaign began on a recorded introductory note of Mr Kirit Somaiya asking the voters to check their names on the voting list."

The second phase, which is currently running, details Mr Somaiya's achievements as an MP and utilisation of the MP funds for this constituency; the third phase will kick off one week before the election and will include the dissemination of the MP's vision for the constituency in years to come, Mr Chandan said.

A media cell, with 10 Internet-connected computers and 30 leased lines, keeps an eye on the campaign. This call centre is manned by 10 party workers working on a 12-hour shift and will actively see through the third phase of the e-campaigning, which will include sending SMS and e-mails to 50,000 people across the constituency.

Amid reports of active election canvassing in Mumbai, other parties too intend to redefine the concept of election campaigning. According to sources in the Congress, the party will soon set up a media cell in its South Mumbai office to counter BJP's e-campaigning.

"We are planning to set up a media cell to counter the BJP campaign," Mr Ajit Sawant, a local Congress leader, said. That sure is a way to capture the attention of the tech-savvy generation.

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