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National Election Watch (NEW)

This is an agglomeration of about 1,200 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country that came together to work on electoral reforms. The NEW has, since the last general election in 2004, exhaustively studied affidavits submitted by candidates filing their nomination papers, and come out with lists for candidates' assets, education and criminal background.

Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR)

The ADR is the most proactive of the NGOs under the National Election Watch banner, and is responsible for a landmark Supreme Court hearing in 2003 that directed the Election Commission to have each candidate file an affidavit listing his assets, education and criminal cases against him/ her. Since then, the ADR has spearheaded the campaign against criminalisation of politics and has actively campaigned against parties fielding tainted candidates in 2009, by posting criminal politicians' affidavits to media houses in the country.

Jaago Re

An endeavour by Tata Tea, Jaago Re plans to capture 'One Billion Votes'. Two months before election dates were announced, Jaago Re went live in the print, online and TV media to promote the idea that everybody must step out to vote. The idea driving this campaign is that by not exercising their franchise, voters allow a backroom entry for self-serving politicians who use political power to further their interests. Jaago Re's youthful but mature presentation is a hit with the youth. Their website guides voters through the entire election process, from filling out application forms to getting a photo election card made. Jaago Re volunteers even sent out mobile phone alerts and emails to remind registered voters about filling out relevant forms.

Bleed India

This was a highly-publicised The Times of India initiative, which ran the famous 'Lead India' campaign prior to this. However, Bleed India is a sarcastic, almost pessimistic view of the Indian general elections with a catch line that says: "While the Times of India tries to find new leaders of the new age (good luck, gentlemen!), we focus instead on those who Bleed India; Masters of the Scam, Tigers of the Tightrope: Surely they deserve some acknowledgement of their genius - in staying above the law, beyond the law, in making it and in breaking it..wah! wah! Ladies and gentlemen…you have led us and yes you have bled us." The entire effort is aimed at pointing out the seamy underbelly of Indian politics.

No Criminals in Politics

This campaign is specifically aimed at barring criminals from contesting elections. Promoted by the Public Interest Foundation, an NGO that focusses on accountability in politics and timely implementation of public-friendly policies, No Criminals' ultimate aim, as per the promoters, is that "No political party should give tickets to people with criminal antecedents in the 2009 general elections." So far, though, both ADR and No Criminals have only succeeded in highlighting the issue; parties have gone ahead and fielded criminals.

Vote Report India

Gaurav Mishra of Vote Report India says that this initiative "is a collaborative citizen-powered election monitoring platform for the 2009 Indian Lok Sabha elections." The way it works is this: voters can directly report any poll violations through SMS, email or online fora to Vote Report and the user generated data is aggregated with news reports on the same subject. The initiative aims to be a one-stop source of news and views on the Indian elections this year.

Bharat Votes

Reminding voters that voting is not their right, it is their duty, Bharat Votes aims to step up accountability in political circles while engaging middle-class, apathetic voters. Unlike other initiatives aimed at the election process, Bharat Votes does not try for "sweeping changes" in politics. Their website aggregates news from such sources as National Election Watch and IBN Politics. The USP of their website is the pledge that viewers can sign, promising that they will vote in the elections and make an informed choice.

Vote India

Vote India's scope and intent is quite like ADR's, in that it aims to educate voters about their candidates and exhorts them to make an informed choice before casting their votes. Their website has an exhaustive database of candidates contesting Lok Sabha 2009 and users can request information on a candidate by emailing Vote India. A great feature of Vote India is that users can air their views on the website's blog. In the future, Vote India plans to track elected candidates' performances and how they spend allocated funds, besides trying to get voters to meet their elected representatives directly.

Mumbai Votes

This initiative goes beyond the voting process to exhort Mumbai's citizens to select the right candidate. While other endeavours ask people to step out and vote, Mumbai Votes gives information on the promises made by MPs and MLAs this election through an aggregation of news from various sources. This is the only city-centric citizens' initiative in the country thus far. The initiative is wildly popular in Mumbai owing to its credibility (it is set up and run by well-known professionals and experts) and the fact that it gives constituency information with a complete list of contesting candidates for Lok Sabha 2009.

My Idea

An initiative by Idea Cellular, this campaign aims to increase voters' participation in the electoral process by encouraging them to float an idea for better governance and then getting other people to support it. Users must register on the site and float an idea, after which they can check back to see if that idea has received popular support. Though the idea need not be forwarded to a political party, users are excited to know that their idea is being debated and improved upon.