India goes online to tackle apathetic middle class voters

Mumbai- Hot on the heels of a US presidential election that saw Barack Obama sweep to victory with the help of a high-tech campaign, India is also turning to the Internet as general elections approach.
But it is not political parties or the main candidates in the world's biggest democracy that are embracing the likes of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube to swell coffers and boost support.
While the ruling Congress and main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party stick to largely traditional campaigning for now, tech-savvy groups are targeting the growing and potentially influential middle classes on the worldwide web.
‘A lot of people have seen the change in the US since the elections and made them realize that they can actually do something,’ said Shridhar Jagannathan, a 30-year-old copywriter.
‘It was the literate middle class that brought the change. What happened in the US has inspired people in India to go out and make a difference.’ India has some 714 million eligible voters, including 170 million under 35, but unlike in developed countries, it is the marginalized rural poor who vote in the biggest numbers, often along caste, regional or religious lines.
In contrast, many of the English-speaking middle and upper classes readily admit to having never voted, yet still complain loudly about standards of leadership and governance.
Most Indians 83 percent feel lawmakers are corrupt and 59 percent think their main motivation is money, according to a recent Times of India survey.
Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) believe politicians are inefficient and 60 percent blame them for all the country's ills.
‘Bad politicians are chosen by good people, who fail to vote,’ says Vote India. Its message is echoed by others. All Indians need to take responsibility for their elected representatives.