Janata Dal (S) app to capture voter preference

The Janata Dal (Secular), which is often regarded as a party that is not tech savvy, has been deploying tech-enabled services to reach out to voters, besides using available data to strategise election campaigns.

In the first phase, the party has sent out booth-level workers in Ramanagaram (represented by its State head H.D. Kumaraswamy), Byatarayanapura, Dasarahalli, and Mahalakshmi Layout (represented by Gopalaiah, MLA) constituencies to capture voters’ preference using an app. It is expected to deploy a similar exercise in at least 85 more constituencies across the State. “With this house-to-house initiative, we want to understand who the voters will vote for. While we will have dedicated JD(S) voters in each constituency, the app will capture data of those who wish to vote for other parties and also undecided voters. We can then concentrate on convincing this section to vote for JD(S),” said the party’s IT cell chief Naveen C. “When the booth-level workers enter the data in the app, it is sent to the central server. Later, we send SMS/voice messages and other campaign materials highlighting the work of Mr. Kumaraswamy and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda to these voters,” he said.

According to him, the party is also capturing the age profile of voters and concentrating on undecided voters. “We found that these swing voters constitute about 20% to 25% of the electorate and are an important section. Once the data of these voters is available, we can work with them at the booth-level as well as communicate with them on phone,” said Mr. Naveen.

Meanwhile, sources in the party said that they have succeeded in creating as many as 25,000 WhatsApp groups to reach out to a wider electorate, and these groups are being used to disseminate information about the party activities. “This information can be used by the ground-level workers to take it forward to voters,” sources said.