Net nanny

As if managing 714 million voters isnt headache enough,the Election Commission is stuck with a new problem: the proliferation of blogs,websites and SMSes by candidates. Mumbai was recently cleansed of 1,512 posters and banners as part of the code of conduct on poll propaganda. Tearing down blogs and monitoring text messages will prove more difficult.

At around 45 million,Internet usage in India is tiny and mainly urban. And there are no snaking lines outside polling booths in cyberspace. But the medium is young: 57 per cent of Internet users are between the ages 18 and 35. The proliferation of blogs and websites by politicians including octogenarians indicates a desire to exude a tech savvy,with-it appearance. Technology,though,is a double-edged sword; Internet image-making is notoriously hard to control. In one famous instance,General Motors decided to call for online advertisements for its new SUV. The idea bombed anti-SUV greens used the campaign to run down the product itself. During his heated primaries with Hillary Clinton,Barack Obama had to disown several online ads by supporters,including one which lampooned her as being the monolithic PC to his hip Macintosh.

Doubtless,the Indian elections will see a few unsavoury Internet viruses floating. Candidates must quickly disown them,but it makes the ECs job doubly hard. At the heart of the ECs dilemma is one of ownership. Its very hard to pin down Net-tactics on a single individual,let alone a registered party organisation. Besides,smug politicians cruising cyberspace better beware of lurking demons. They may not yet have drudgereport.com scrutinising their every move. But Internet chatter can be dangerous and impossible to control.