The 2008 State Assembly Elections are being conducted in 6 states of India – Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajastan, Delhi, Mizoram and Jammu and Kashmir. TechvoteIndia has picked one of these states – Mizoram - as a case study on how technology is used for political campaigns.

In an interesting development, the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF), an organization of the different churches and NGO’s in Mizoram has issued a diktat to political parties to make the campaigning and election processes low key and low budget. The usual feasts, house to house campaign, putting party flags on vehicles used for business like maxi cabs, buses etc, putting more than one flag in private vehicles used for campaigning etc are prohibited. As a result, Mizo political leaders have turned to technology – SMS, Phone and TV to reach out to the public.

We invite you to read on more to see the dance of democracy and technology, in one community of India – Mizoram.