Yahoo, Google set up Web sites for election in India

Google and Yahoo have launched special sites dedicated to coverage of the federal elections starting April 16 in a bid to build their brands among Internet users in the country.

The interest of the companies signals the growing importance of the role of the Internet in Indian elections. A number of Indian political parties are using Web sites, e-mail and videos on YouTube to reach voters.

Google, for example, estimates that 25 million of India's 45 million Internet users are of voting age and are actively looking online for information on the elections and other issues.

The Internet has emerged as an important medium for people to interact and debate with other voters, political parties and candidates, said Gopal Krishna, Yahoo's vice president for emerging markets and acting country head for Yahoo India, on Tuesday.

An estimated 100 million new, young voters will be qualified to participate in this election, and many of them are likely to be Internet users, Krishna added.

Last week, Yahoo set up a micro-site, Election '09 (http://in.elections.yahoo.com/), which offers election news coverage, schedules, online polls and discussion forums.

A tool on the site, called "Your Manifesto," also allows users to select issues of importance that let politicians know what interests them. "This feature will be of tremendous value for political parties, because it provides an insight into what is going on in the voters' minds," Krishna said.

Google launched on Monday an online elections center (www.google.co.in/loksabha2009) in both English and Hindi. The company has partnered with a large media company, Hindustan Times Media, to offer a co-branded site.

Google is already selling advertising to Indian political parties using its advertising tools, but only on other Web sites and not the election site, said Paroma Roy Chowdhury, head of corporate communications and public affairs at Google India. The election site is not a commercial venture, she said.

The partnership with Hindustan Times, which does not involve money, gives Google both an online and offline reach, Chowdhury said. Besides a significant online presence, the Hindustan Times also has print publications with high circulations that will promote the election site.

"There is a large segment of the population moving onto the Internet, and we are ensuring that the Google brand connects with them," Chowdhury said.

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