Missed calls, online voting to predict poll results

Mobile marketing firm VivaConnect said Friday it has devised a new initiative to predict the outcome of the upcoming general election through missed calls and online voting.

The company's ChooseMyIndia initiative allows people to register their opinion by giving a missed call and online voting in favour of the political party they think can make a difference.

The missed call numbers are featured on its website, ichoosemyindia.com, which even flashes live results of the public poll.

To maintain the poll's integrity, a single vote is registered against every mobile number even if the user attempts multiple missed calls.

With this, the initiative has introduced a new way of conducting polls that are capable of national level engagement with absolute convenience, the Mumbai-based firm said in a statement.

Participation is open to every Indian and is independent of the handset uses. To give a missed call in favour of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) one can dial 1800 103 5516, for Indian National Congress (INC) dial 1800 103 5517, for Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) dial 1800 103 5518, for others dial 1800 103 5523 and for NOTA dial 1800 103 5524.

The missed calls received by individual party are displayed over the website along with the total online votes received in the poll.

"Our initiative intends to showcase public opinion with Live results and encourage everyone to vote as every single vote collectively makes a huge difference", said Vikram Raichura, who leads the initiative.

The poll will accept missed calls and online votes till April 6, 2014 and will continue to showcase the results post that.

"This initiative does not intend to promote any political party but is solely meant for sharing public opinion," the company statement said.