The newsroom of Sahara Samay, from where the national and region-specific channels (Sahara Samay UP and MP) are managed in Noida (on the outskirts of Delhi), resembles a huge hall with people moving all over the place. But the fully air-conditioned hall is also stacked with state-of-the-art gizmos on which mostly youngsters are at play. For most of the people working there, this is the first general election that they would be involved in some way or other professionally ---- covering, anchoring, editing, managing the news flow, organizing the technicalities, etc.

There is a sense of purpose too. Like any youngster, Sahara Samay has a point to prove: we are as good as the others (read oldies), if not better.

Like the other news channels, Sahara Samay Rashtriya, the 24-hour Hindi news channel, too has its bevy of election related programmes. With general programmes on elections such as Vaar Palat Vaar, Reporter's Diary, Aaj Mujhe Bolne Do, Kiska Hai Kal, the special programmes include One on One, Chunaav Express and Straight from the State.

POLITICS - A GAME OF CHESS AND MYTHOLOGICAL MOTIFS

It's election season and the preparations are already on. Campaigning is picking up tempo even as the first phase of polls has already been held and the next one is slated for next week. Sonia is on with her road shows and the BJP is trying to make the country feel good. Others are busy indulging in the nation's favourite pastime : dwelling on the political permutations and combinations. It is like the classic game of chess..the board is laid out and everybody is trying to outmanoeuver the opposition.

Arup Ghosh - helping unravel political chess for viewers

For Sahara Samay Rashtriya, the national news channel, this will be the theme for the election coverage. The participants are already identified. ``We will tell the public about the King and the Queen in this game of chess. Who are the pawns being used by the parties and what is latest tactic? This time of the year every press conference is a new move and every day a party wins a piece or loses one. And finally we tell you who check mates whom, who comes out on top and who has to wait for another five years,'' explains Sahara national news channel's head Arup Ghosh.

The theme of Sahara's election programming will revolve around a game of chess. The sets, montage and promos will be designed in a manner that will bring out this theme and all the election related shows will also revolve around this larger theme.

But the game of chess is also aimed at the young voters. The whole election show has been conceived keeping them in mind. Why? Because, according to a survey carried out by Sahara before finalizing the election line-up, about 65 per cent of the voters are young ---- India's young voters' population is rising --- and their tastes and viewing habits are different.

What does the young viewer want? Short duration promos, focused chatter, no pontification and wider representation. "The survey told us how a young channel, that we are, should address the young viewer," points out Ghosh. For the region-specific channels, the motifs have been drawn from Indian mythology --- Sankhnad Mahasangram Ki, Chunav Chalisa, etc.

``We have tried to draw inspiration from our mythology to co-relate the themes to the present day election,'' says head of regional channels Prabhat Dabral.

AROUND THE COUNTRY IN 60 DAYS

It may look like traveling the country's nook and corner at company expense, but then the programming is designed like that.

Sahara Samay head Sushanto Roy - targeting the 65 per cent youth voting population

While Chunav Express, hosted on a specially fabricated open-air double decker bus, involves discussions with key leaders of various constituencies, local dignitaries and the general public moving together in the bus (the show would travel from state to state); One-on-One is an interview-based programme with chief ministers and senior political leaders (Ghosh is the interviewer in this case).

The interview is limited to the work done by the chief minister and there is an attempt to rate the various achievements of the chief minister. The rating will be done by the chief minister himself and by the channel on the basis of facts. On the other hand, Straight from the States, hosted by Shireen, head of Sahara Samay, NCR, revolves around the economic and social situation of the states from the states.

This programme from various states tries to raise the issues that affect an average person or a voter. Issues like health, well being, employment, business opportunities, education and basic necessities like clean water, and good roads will be tackled on this programme.

Then there is Kuchh Baatein Safar Mein, another show that travels to the various parts of the country. Because every state has its star campaigners and star candidates and every constituency has its quirks and every candidate has his own style of campaigning, Sahara correspondents travel with these candidates from various states attempting to bring out the singular characteristics of various campaigns. At least ten candidates from every state will be featured on this segment.

"Our content is diverse, shows travel all over the country with mostly young reporters and anchors,''claims Ghosh, pointing out that the effort is to show the ``real Bharat'' --- shining or whining.

LET'S INNOVATE; LET RIVALS IMITATE US

Election time also means that the political pundits, experts and what-have-you have to be roped in. It's also time for some innovation. Sahara Samay is no exception.

With the character Dhartipakad turning out to be a success during the assembly elections held last year, this time round too Sahara Rashtriya has a similar programme ---- Sriman Bharat --- with a different person essaying the role of the inquisitive investigator on behalf of the common man.

The reason being that tellydom's comic character, who played Dhartipakad on Sahara Rashtriya, has been whisked away to a rival channel where he has metamorphosed as Harry Voter Ban Gaya Reporter.

The theme of the programme, though, is very similar to that of Dhartipakad. What's more, since everything is fair in love and war, Sahara national has dusted the Dhartipakad promos to have them run again on the channel with a tag line that makes no bones of the fact that an idea has been stolen.

'Shakuni Mama' of Mahabharat makes a comeback on Sahara Samay Rashtriya in Paisa Phenk Chunaav Dekh. This time he's holding a satirical show on the Great Indian Democracy Dance. Gufi Paintal analyses behind-the-scene political machinations in his own style, with a dash of satire and humour. To make it distinct from Dhartipakad, this is a studio driven show, but ad libbing is as good.

"You have to have such programmes just for the novelty factor and Gufi is great not because he's a good actor, but because the settings suit the character of Shakuni Mama,'' says Ghosh.

The regional channels too are not far behind. TV star Vinod Nagpal and film actor Kader Khan have been roped in to bring some humour. So, while Nagpal plays a laptop-carrying swami in Chunav Chalisa, Kader Khan runs his own news network called Narad News Network.

Activity at its most hectic at the Sahara news room during elections

"We have used the character of Narad as he's the oldest and most experienced political reporter,'' Dabral explains, adding that these two programmes have become a big hit in the states as people are relating to the characters.

Of course, there are the other experts too like Hindi Outlook editor Alok Mehta, former Jansatta editor Prabhas Joshi and senior journalists Namvar Singh and Ambikanand Sahay, who has spent most of his journalistic life in the politically-charged state of Uttar Pradesh.

FASTEN THE SEAT BELTS;YOU'RE ON AIR

These lines may have been spoken thousands of times earlier. But during events like elections, when a member of the technical team of a news channel says these lines, he/she also has a prayer on the lips. One small mistake can jeopardise the best laid out programming plans. The logistics too are huge.

The Sahara OB vans

Sample the facts: a total number of 25 OB vans (15 of them dedicated to the national channel only); 115 camera units in operations; 65 V-sat locations; 22 bureaus; automated polls through SMS and e-mails (Beehive is doing the automation for this); four sets spread over four floors apart from two city centres. Admits Kamal Dixit, Sahara Rashtriya's head of operations, "In times like these, the technical team comes under pressure and bears the maximum brunt of load.'' But, as Ghosh clarifies, these are also times when the technical team gets to show its true mettle ----"TV is a punishing medium, but it has its rewards too."

For every channel, the pressure increases as the counting day draws near because that's the day when the

maximum crunch happens. ``But we are ready for the challenge,'' Dixit says confidently.

Sahara is also in the process of tying up with Reliance for broadband network.``Some 110 Reliance Webworld centers around the country would be used by us during the elections coverage,'' Dixit informs.

So, what's the final summation? The set-up that banked on youth despite criticism is pulling out all the stops for its elections coverage. Insiders say that approximately Rs 60 million would be spent on the total election coverage. Says Dabral, ``I would not be knowing the exact details, but for the UP and MP channels, enough advertising has been booked. Our costs would be recovered.''

Would the viewers give more Sahara (support) to Sahara news channels? Only samay (time) has the answers.

Pictures by: Sanjay Sharma/Indiapix Networks