With the 16th Lok Sabha elections now underway, Google has taken up the responsibility to make it easier for you to know who the candidates in your constituencies are.
Google has launched a new tool on their elections hub called 'Know Your Candidates,' which will help you get quick information if you haven't found out about your political candidates and decided who to vote.
The information on each candidate is gathered from sources like the Association for Democratic Reforms, PRS legislative Research and Liberty Institute India.
You can see the interactive tool from Google's elections hub here.
Using this tool is quite simple as expected. When you visit the election hub and visit the 'Know Your Candidates' tab, a huge map of India is seen where each constituency is marked out and colour coded.
By zooming in, you can see more detailed boundaries making it easier for you to locate and click on your particular constituency. Otherwise, you can just type in your PIN code in the space provided on the right hand side corner of the page, and jump to the relevant details.
Apart from making you acquainted with the candidates of your own constituencies, Google's 'Know Your Candidate' tool will also help you by giving a macro picture at multiple constituencies.
On the page, when you click on a constituency, you will be able to see the list of all the candidates from different parties and also the incumbent. Depending on the sources, the information provided can include age, education, alliances, attendance, debates participated in and questions asked among others.
Visitors will also be bombarded with other information where it is applicable. For example, some of the candidates will be shown with information underneath on the number of various criminal cases, the total assets of the candidate and more. Sometimes, the tool gives you links to the candidates on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages and their individual websites as well.
The tool tends to come in handy if we need to quickly know if a candidate has a Twitter handle, or a webpage, or YouTube post that could give you more information on what the person is up to. However, the information provided are supposed to be only the basic snapshot of candidates designed to help you get quick information and should be treated with caution.
(Edited by Anu James)
