Even though the much-anticipated legislative assembly elections in Bihar are underway, Google's search index has shown that Indians are far more interested in what's happening more than 8,000 miles away, in the United States of America — which is witnessing a polarising presidential election between Democratic candidate Joe Biden and the incumbent Republican president Donald Trump.
Given the US hold on world affairs, this isn't much astounding, per se — but India's search trends on Google have shown an overwhelming concern for the latest updates in the American electoral process than a necessarily important one underway here at home.
According to a report by the Hindustan Times, "US Election Results" topped the charts on Google Trends' search index as soon as the counting process began in America on the wee hours of November 4 (IST).
The search phrases "US Election" and "American Election 2020 result" remained on the top throughout the day, generating "over a million searches individually on the internet", the report states.
In a surprising development, searches for US Election updates even overtook those regarding Republic TV's Editor-In-Chief Arnab Goswami on the day he was arrested by the Mumbai Police, which itself had generated over three million hits.
The report further elaborates on the fact that throughout November 5 morning, when the electoral votes to key US states started getting confirmed for the candidates in the fray, for every 100 searches in India on Google, 14 were on Bihar while around 34 were about Biden.
However, as the counting of ballots in battleground states has stretched on, so has the interest in updates weaned, according to the search index.
Currently, US Election searches fall pale to IPL T20 and the ISRO satellite launch. However, analysts have estimated that Indians' interest in the American affairs will soar once again after the election results confirm a president-elect.
