'Modi most searched politician on Google in India'

The Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was the most searched politician, followed by Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, on Google in India during March-August period of this year, the internet giant said.

According to the website's search trends during the period, BJP was the most searched political party on Google India, while Congress and Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party came in the second and the third positions.

Google India also released a survey 'Urban Indian Voters', which said 42 per cent of respondents were undecided about who to vote for in elections.

The trends showed that the three-time Gujarat chief minister is the most searched. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is second, while UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi occupies the third position.

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, TN Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and Congress leader Digvijay Singh were the other most searched politicians.

In terms of political parties, BJP was the most searched, followed by Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena in that order.

How to get an election card was the most searched query, followed by how to find electoral roll number. Getting election card online, how to vote were the other top queries.

Google India's survey 'Urban Indian Voters' was conducted offline by research firm TNS during July-August 2013. It covered 41,000 people, with a focus on 7,042 respondents who were registered voters and active Internet users.

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"A large proportion of the urban Indian registered voters (42 per cent) were undecided about whom to vote for in the upcoming elections," the study said.

Thirty five per cent respondents said their decision will be based on the party, while, 36 per cent said local candidate matters to them, the study said.

"Interestingly, 11 per cent said the prime ministerial candidate of the political party will play an important role in their final voting decision. In the west, the preference for the local candidate was the highest at 45 per cent and was the lowest in east at 27 per cent," it added.

Sixty eight per cent of respondents were in the age group of 18-35 years. Male respondents were 63 per cent, while female respondents were 37 per cent.

The study also said young urban Indian voters are heavily engaged online and actively involved in the electoral process, with 85 per cent respondents saying they have voted in the previous elections and 64 per cent for this question were in age group of 18-25 years.

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