Implementing GIS in Strategical Planning of Election Campaign

ELECTIONS are the spinal cord of any democratic country. For the candidate fighting the election it becomes necessary to campaign him and the political party he belongs, rightly, to win the election. It is more and more difficult to lure more votes using old methods like broadcasting ads on TV and radio or printing campaign posters. New methods have evolved to bring in more votes, a targeted approach which uses data to directly contact the individuals and converse on the things that matters and affects them the most. To achieve the overall objective Geographical Information System (GIS) and GeoDemoGraphic data have been used. Information like Census data, Voter details, Income-Expense data of citizens and previous Election results, depicting various socio economic characteristics of citizens were combined together and important indicators affecting the number of votes received by each political party were determined.After data flattening, to know the significance of these indicators, step-wise regression is carried out and all correlated or insignificant indicators are removed. Correlation of all significant factors to the number of votes received by each political party was determined. The significant indicators are divided into male and female categories which are further divided into Qualitative and Quantitative indicators. Hierarchical clustering of significant quantitative indicators into clusters was formed. Thematic maps indicate the group of voters with certain characteristics and their tendency to vote for particular political party. This work will help recognize the clusters of voters and help politicians to plan and focus their campaign accordingly