Hyderabad: As the country goes to Lok Sabha election, poll strategists are more in demand across the political spectrum. Thanks to the advent of Prashant Kishore. Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations, targeted information sharing, survey reports, technology, and unlimited data have become the priorities in elections.
Election strategists, who spin the fortunes of candidates are dominating the scene nowadays. The days of drafting strategies with local leadership and ruling the entire campaign are over now. The role of strategists, who would advise from behind the scenes, have become more pronounced in an era of 'poster boy' culture which has taken centre stage now.
During the 2014 elections, Prashant Kishore's coined words like 'chai pe charcha' became popular as he orchestrated the strategies for the BJP, which won 282 seats.
A year before the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) was floated by Kishore. Two years later, it was transformed into the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC). Since then, he has started formulating strategies on behalf of parties in many elections. As a part of this, the special campaign implemented by Kishore's team in the 2014 elections came good for the BJP. Brand Modi became the fulcrum of the BJP's campaign. The 3D hologram rallies were organised by describing Modi as 'Vikas Purush'.
After that, he stopped working as a strategist and entered politics directly. He also did a padayatra in Bihar and said that in the past, he used to advise parties and leaders, but now he is directly explaining the real issues to the people. He said that he did not do anything toward revolutionary changes but worked on the situation at the field level.
Another strategist, Sunil Kanugulu, who has worked for the BJP in several states, worked for the Congress. Accounts of his victories include the Karnataka and Telangana assembly elections and the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Partha Pratim Das, who studied at IIM Bangalore, first worked as a strategist for Ajay Singh, who contested from Jewargi in Karnataka in 2013. In November 2013, he founded Chanakya Sanstha along with Arindam Manna. He defeated the sitting BJP MLA, Ajay Singh, in Jewargi by a margin of 36,700 votes. In 2018, he again worked for Ajay Singh and ensured his win.
''In 2009, the impact of social media was not much. The voting system was also dependent on the needs and trends of the family. People like LK Advani and Mulayam Singh Yadav used to travel all over the country. However, the new generation of leaders prefers strategy over field-level moves. They are more tech savvy than ever. There has been increased importance for the counting of votes by category. Surveys were not given much importance in the past. Now the situation has completely changed," Das said.
Tushar Panchal, who launched War Room Strategies in 2016, said, " Political strategists were in the business of framing plans even decades ago, but it was secretive. It became public only when Prashant Kishore came."
Pradeep Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of Axis My India, said that political strategists have initiated a new approach. In the past, victories depended on leaders. Now, strategists often hold the key."
According to Panchal, Prashant Kishore's arrival has given political strategists a lot of publicity. At present, there is no difference in that work, but the strategists are doing a lot of campaigning. So they are trying to get contracts from more parties. Fees for strategists vary by region and leader. Usually, such organisations do not work for leaders personally; they work for parties. Political strategies take months, and every strategist has a different strategy depending on the candidates, which takes about 5 to 6 months to work for a party and a leader.
Modus operndi
* Strategists collect data from the poll booth level.
* All the history is taken of how the pattern of votes changed in the respective constituencies.
* Surveys are conducted at the field level.
* Identify the needs of the electorate.
* After that the campaign strategy is decided.
