Title: Early Indian initiatives in e-democracy

Authors: Rajeev Gowda

Addresses: Economics and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India

Abstract: E-democracy involves the harnessing of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve electoral processes and political representation. India is witnessing a range of e-democracy initiatives launched by political activists. These include: e-registration of voters; formation of new political parties; provision of information about candidates; programs and services that improve the effectiveness of representatives. These initiatives perform well by the normative standards of pluralist, representative and direct democracy. However, in light of India|s substantial digital divides, we suggest ways in which ICT applications for electoral purposes can be made more broad based through pro-active government intervention.

Keywords: information technology; communications; ICT; India; electoral processes; e-democracy; e-participation; registration; political parties; voters; elected representatives; electronic democracy; electronic governance; digital divide.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEG.2008.017903

International Journal of Electronic Governance, 2008 Vol.1 No.2, pp.174 - 189

Published online: 22 Apr 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article