Eight apps to stay on top of Lok Sabha elections 2014

Since 7 April, the nation has gone to the polls and the electric atmosphere, be it for the campaigning parties or voters themselves, cannot be overlooked. While a huge chunk of the campaigning and sloganeering also found its way to the ranks of the social media and the digital world, app makers too have latched onto the election bandwagon. From apps that helps users register for voting, to informing them about the current state of the elections and providing real time news about the same, app makers are going out on a limb to get users to connect to the largest democracy in the world. We take a look at apps across platforms that are working towards empowering the voter.

Google Play Store
Indian Elections 2014: The free app features a complete overview of the elections in India from 1947 to the current one. It has information on all 545 constituencies, and details of the sitting MP, details of the political parties and the details of the voting dates along with the map wise, state wise and date wise information on it. It also supplements the same with results of the previous 15 elections, details of erstwhile prime ministers, economy overview, the election process, code of conduct and FAQs, Twitter handles, websites and Wikipedia pages of various leaders.

India Elections: Another interesting free app is India Elections. It covers the state as well as general elections. In addition to providing detailed analysis of the leaders, and candidates, it will also aid in filing RTI applications online. There are analysis of the UPA and the NDA government, opinion polls, news about the parties, political parties and also the leaders, and more. The app can also be downloaded and installed on a cellphone's SD card which is a useful feature.

iTunes App Store:
Election of India: Developed by Opti Matrix, the free app also has details about the elections dates, schedule, political parties, voting nominees, voting places, date wise news and election result of assembly and parliament elections. Released a week back the app is compatible with the iPhone, iPad and the iPod Touch.

Election Survey 2014: Another useful free app on the iTunes store, this one gives information about the current political news related to the elections, the latest in a series of scandals and political mudslinging. Users can read about the latest buzzword in the political scenario in their part of the nation, read up on election trivia about politicians and political parties, amongst others. In addition taking a quiz on the political scenario will also inform users about how many more people are thinking similarly. The app is optimised for the iPhone 5, and requires iOS 7.0 to use.

Windows Phone Store:
India Politics: The free app allows users to listen to speeches of leaders and the agendas of various political parties. It also will provide live feed of the results along with election dates, current and past election results and the latest tweets from political parties and the leaders. In addition it will also allow users to connect with leaders from various political parties on Facebook and also allow users to see the kind of work being done by them as far as campaigning and manifestos are concerned on Facebook.

India Votes: Unlike a lot of the other apps that give real time data and help in analysing parties and politicians this one is an opinion poll app. It allows users to exercise their vote like the manner of the general elections and also allows users to see the results across the nation. It uses real time data and results are updated with each vote. It is a fun app to understand the workings of the general elections for the voter.

BlackBerry App World
Chunav'14: Here is an interesting election app for BlackBerry users. Not only does it display real time election results on the smartphone as the counting is on, it also provides detailed results of the candidates, parties or constituencies of the users choice at any given time. The activity will start from 16 May, 8.00 am onwards as the counting begins. It will also include opinion and exit polls which are carried out 'by reliable sources' according to the developers. This is a paid app for BB10 devices, and costs Rs. 50.

Voter Registration India: A useful free app for first-time voters, this allows users to download an application form and fill it. After uploading a picture of the voter, all that one needs to do is take a print out, and submit it to the ERO along with the necessary proofs and signature to be registered as a voter. The app is supported on all BlackBerry phones from the BlackBerry 8100 onwards.