India goes to the polls next year and for the first time social media is expected to play a key role in the lead up to the election.

In the world's largest democracy, internet penetration is growing, and with it a desire from young people to get involved with the political process.

By weight of numbers, India's youth are a formidable force and are becoming increasingly vocal.

B.V. Rao, editor of the public policy and national affairs magazine Governance Now, says the majority of India's population is younger than 35 years old.

"I think this urban population is expressing dismay at the way, in the last ten years, everything has stalled in the country," he said.

"Each one of these people who were joining the workforce would have had brilliant careers.

None of this actually has taken place. They're all maybe just operators in some call centre."

In 2011, anger towards the Congress party-led government reached a tipping point.

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare led a nation-wide protest calling for more government accountability.

The bulk of his supporters were young people.

"The biggest surprise element in all of this is that the force, the large part of the population that we had, kind of put them into a certain brand," Mr Rao said.

"They said they are not interested in what is happening in the country - that myth has collapsed."

Five years ago, Anshul Tewari started the social justice news and opinion site, Youth Ki Awaaz.

Mr Tewari says initially his site had a limited audience but it has since grown enormously.

"Right now we have about 200,000 unique visitors a month," he said.

"We get nearly 5 million hits."

Mr Tewari says his website caters for people aged between 18 and 35.

"They come from a very urban middle class background who have the luxury to access the internet," he said.

"(They) have a perspective on these issues and they want to change how things are happening in the country."

Mobile internet boom

Internet penetration in India has historically been low due to the high set-up costs of owning a computer.

Late last year, however, there were almost 80 million mobile internet users in India.

By early 2014, that number is expected to grow to 130 million.

Mr Rao says this trend is shifting awareness of news right across the country.

"Now in the remotest corners of India you will have people who are aware of what is happening in the US because of TV, mobiles and the internet," he said.

Mr Rao says this new Internet savvy generation did not previously vote in India.

"Urban voting in India has always been some 15 per cent less than rural voting, some times even more."

India will head to the polls next year and social media is for the first time expected to play a big role.

More politicians are now engaging the youth on social media, Mr Tewari says.

"I think it will take time but as more younger politicians come in I think more will be willing to engage," he said.

"Things are definitely changing quite a bit."

'Oursay'

Oursay is a social enterprise that asks the public to submit questions to a website, then asks people to vote on the questions.

The most popular questions are then put to decision makers.

Since its launch in India late last year, Oursay has held online forums with India's Human Resources Minister, and Information Technology minister.

The organisation is now getting phone calls from other minister's offices wanting to do the same.

Gautam Raju, director of Oursay, says politicians have been receptive to the idea.

"Young people have been so excited and interested and engaged in what we are trying to do," he said.

"They see it as finally a way to connect directly to the people making decisions about them."

Oursay is now running a campaign called 'If I were a Neta", which in English means, 'If I were a leader'.

"The whole idea was, there is a huge gap between the cabinet minister whose average age is 65, and the average age of an Indian which is about 25," Mr Raju said.

"We wanted young people get out there and think, if they were one of those cabinet ministers, what would they change?"

What issues would you address if you were a Neta (leader)?

To have your say, go to: http://oursay.org/if-i-were-a-neta