Election campaign website launched

From India News Network (INN)

* *

*CPI(M) ELECTION CAMPAIGN WEBSITE LAUNCHED*

New Delhi, March 19: Launching the election campaign website of the CPI(M) on March 18, 2009, for the Lok Sabha Elections, 2009, Comrade Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau Member of the Party said: "The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is launching vote.cpim.org today, which will be a site dedicated to our campaign for the Lok Sabha Elections, 2009.

This website is designed entirely using free software platform, Drupal. CPI(M) has always been committed to promote Free Software, and the present exercise testifies to our continued effort towards that objective.

The design of the site has also been done free of cost, on a voluntary basis. Other parties like the BJP spend enormous amount of money for their campaign on the Internet (lkadvani.in). One wonders if the Election Commission is keeping a tab on that expenditure.

Our friends and wellwishers have helped us in designing and hosting this site. In particular, we thank Comrades Srinivasan Ramani from Mumbai; Unnikrishnan, Kiran Chandra and Bhuvan from Hyderabad; Sudipto Nag from Kolkata and Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya from Kochi for their special efforts. The Free Software team and the Research Unit of the CPI(M) have also contributed.

Today, the Internet has emerged as an open ended medium which enables us to reach out to a large number of our people, particularly the youth. Through this campaign over the internet, we hope to reach out to them with our views concerning issues in the forthcoming Lok Sabha Elections. Through the website we will be able to carry our message across in an undistorted manner, free from the control/censorship and biases of the corporate media.

Our website has several interactive features. Visitors can give suggestions, ask questions and even join our campaign through the site. All serious queries and suggestions would be responded within 24 hours.

We would appeal to the members and sympathisers of our Party across the country to join the campaign group in our website and help us in making our

initiative a success."

Responding to questions from the media, Sitaram Yechury emphasized that the CPI(M) has always believed in using technological advances to take forward the issues of the people and promote meaninful public debates. The fact that this is done through the website which will be hosted and maintained completely free of cost makes the campaign of the CPI(M) distinct from other political parties. Sitaram Yechury appealed to the youth, the predominant users of the internet, to recognize that their future is shaped by the politics of the day and therefore, it is important for them to participate and engage with it.

eom