-India will hold general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in 5 phases in April & May 2009, starting from 16 April upto 13 May. The results of the election will be announced in single phase on May 16, 2009.
-714 million people are eligible to vote in 2009, up 6.4% (43 million) from 2004.
-This time, there are many who are vying for the post of Prime Minister, as Bal Thackeray has said- "People should enjoy 'Grand show' for PM's post. The Prime Minister candidate for Congress being Dr. Manmohan Singh and for the BJP being Lal Krishna Advani and many others like Sharad Pawar, Ram Vilas Paswan, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh, Mayawati etc are interested; though some are now denying it.
- The Congress party has bought the rights for the Oscar winning soundtrack 'Jai Ho' from the movie Slumdog Millionaire and this song will be used as the official campaign tune by the party. To counter this, the BJP coined the phrase Kushal Neta, Nirnayak Sarkaar which translates to 'Able leader, decisive government' specially using Advani as their main leader and trying to brand Manmohan Singh as a weak P.M.
I could not help but notice the use of internet as a medium for L.K.Advani. His blog page, the websites, the advertisements everywhere on the internet etc. This is a conscious effort and a Marketing strategy I feel to reach out to the youth and to project the image as someone moving with the times and to give a youthful feel which many feel is their answer to the challenge from the young Rahul Gandhi with even pictures of Advani lifting weights in a gym! No doubt that Advani seems to have taken a cue from Obama's highly successful campaign using technology and internet and having various IT related things in their vision including 10 million laptops at Rs 10000!
