Bangalore is voting today. If, however, you are still wondering which candidate to choose,  which party to back, and what issues matter to Bangalore, then just log on to your PC, and you will find your answers. It’s e-age after all, and Bangaloreans are blogging on to discuss the parties, the candidates, problems, agendas, you name it and you will  find it in the cyber world.

Varied issues are being discussed on the blogs. Some are predicting which party will come to power, others are expressing and trying to gather support for a particular party. Many bloggers are also discussing  problems facing Bangalore, candidates and their agendas, criminal background of candidates among other things. Some also carry useful information on how to get your voter id card, voter list of Bangalore and links to the Election Commission website. Some online forums have articles written by prominent people like writer and activist Ammu Joseph.

Nakul Shenoy, who is a corporate entertainer and an avid blogger, says that it is a good thing that more people are coming online as it leads to a wider expression and a more engaging discussion. He however feels that every blog can not be trusted.  “I can create 10 blogger accounts in different names and use it to promote a party, hence you can’t trust everyone. Some of us have been blogging for around 10 years now, and are known within the community. Only such blogs are taken seriously,” he says.

While majority of the politicians are yet to get tech-savvy, there are many young politicians who are contesting the Karnataka elections and are certainly logging on to the net, whether to read citizens blogs, or to launch their own websites.

 Krishna Byre Gowda, a Congress candidate who is standing in the Byatarayanapura constituency is one such candidate.  He has launched his own website called krishnabyregowda.in. Another candidate, C Narayanaswami  from Janata Dal (S) also has his own website.

So before you get out and cast your vote today, do log on and read who is saying what, you might just get a clearer view on  who to place your bet (vote) on.


Some of the blogs

A number of blogs have cropped up discussing the elections — some personal blogs which have discussed issues pertaining to the City, like Adarsh Bhat’s blog, Just a scrap — Scrap the crap. These blogs also feature comments posted by other bloggers. There are other online forums such as Sulekha.com, Blogathon, livejournal.com,churmuri.com  and citizenmatter.in, which have invited readers to discuss issues, post comments and articles. The websites have received good response, with many articles pertaining to the election being posted on them. These websites also have blogs of other people tagged on to them, besides newspaper articles, and news videos by news channels.