By IANS,
New Delhi : Now voters from across the country can go online to confirm their voter registration status, discover their polling location or even view their constituency on a map, thanks to Google India’s online election centre launched Monday.
The bi-lingual site in Hindi and English was launched in collaboration with a group of leading NGOs.
Voters can also peruse relevant election-related news, blogs, videos, and quotations, a statement said.
The NGOs partnering Google India include Association for Democratic Reforms, Indicus Analytics, the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, the Liberty Institute and PRS Legislative Research.
The site will also allow voters to understand the progress of development in their constituency, and consider data relating to their current and potential representatives in parliament, the statement said.
Shailesh Rao, managing director of Google India, said an informed voter was a prerequisite for the healthy functioning of the country’s democracy and Indian voters had the right to information about their constituencies and candidates.
“Keeping in mind our global mission of organizing information and making it universally accessible, we have created this election centre to highlight some of the most important information available to voters in India today,” Rao said.
Sanjoy Narayan, editor-in-chief of Hindustan Times Media Limited, which is co-marketing the site, said: “General elections in India are always complex. The idea behind the site was to empower our reader to make the right choice while exercising his or her franchise.”
He said the age group between 18 to 35 accounted for almost 40 percent of the electorate. “This chunk of young voters is good with technology and wants to make sure they elect the right people,” Narayan said.