IT hub takes a pause for polls

Sat, May 10 12:50 AM

Wide-ranging debates on elections and vigorous campaigns for a party or leader in cyberspace suggest an impressive turnout of info tech professionals at polling stations in this tech hub in phase one of elections to the legislative assembly in Karnataka, Saturday (May 10). The state capital is home to more than 1,600 IT and ITES companies which employ more than 600,000 people.

With 28 seats, the state capital heads the list of 11 districts that witness battle of ballots on Saturday. In all, 89 constituencies out of the total 224 will go to polls with an electorate of 1.

73 crore set to pick their candidates from among 953 in the fray. For the first time, elections to the state legislative assembly have been debated extensively in cyberspace with Orkut users forming networks to debate poll manifestos, the prospects of various parties and leaders.

These include the keen contest between former chief minister B.S.

Yediyurappa and S. Bangarappa in Shikaripura, the best dressed politician, leaders with best political acumen, and of course the party best suited to rule Karnataka, according to sources in the IT industry.

According to Karthik Shekar, secretary of UNITES India, (Union for ITES Professionals), scores of employees have participated in debates and Q and amp;A sessions on issues related to elections over the last two months. "We have created an awareness about voter ID cards and the polling process and therefore expect a large turnout tomorrow.

We have also written to NASSCOM to instruct every company to make arrangements for its personnel to participate in the election process," he told this correspondent. T.

V. Mohandas Pai, Director, Infosys Technologies Ltd, Bangalore, said he too anticipated a good turnout because this would be the first opportunity for urban voters to pick candidates who would protect their interests.

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