Text Democracy

Indian election is the biggest reality drama that is unfolding currently; on television and on the streets. Why not choose the winner through SMSes?

Read Sakshi Didwania's Reuters blog. Most commentators back the idea. Pratap Bhanu Mehta demurs: he says that voting mechanism must be accessible to everybody and half the voter population doesn't have cell phones.

But the poor in India always vote. No harm if those who have cell phones could text their votes. Instead of staying at home, or at workplace, and wasting the franchise.

Devising a system whereby fair voting could happen through text messaging will be a challenge.
(Capturing cell-phones would be easier than capturing polling booths.) But we produce bright IT engineers, they can do it. The idea must be taken seriously. If 80-85 per cent of India votes --usually it's 50-55 per cent -- there would be a revolution.