Prashant Kishor, Sunil Kanugolu & Co: Election strategists turned campaign makers

New Delhi: Excel sheets, power-point presentations, targeted content sharing, survey reports, technology and endless data – these elements might have been missing from traditional election campaigns in India a few decades ago, but today they drive winning strategies with election strategists. . From the backroom boys to playing a vital role in change. As India heads to the polls, the stakes are higher than ever. It is said that elections are fought on emotions and are more of an art than a science, but the rise of election strategists would suggest otherwise.

The poster boy of political consulting emerged as Prashant Kishor, whose team advised the Narendra Modi-led BJP to a landslide victory of 282 seats in the 2014 general elections. Mr Kishor founded the organization as a non-profit in 2013. Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG) was launched in 2015. Two years later, it was renamed the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), which has since strategized and campaigned for candidates in several elections. In 2014, it launched some major campaigns like ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ (conversation over tea) and Statue of Unity movement to build “Brand Modi”; It also implemented 3D hologram rallies for the first time in India with PM Modi positioning him as Vikas Purush (man of progress).

Having often successfully worked with several parties in shaping their election campaigns, Mr Kishore says before launching his ‘Padayatra’ in Bihar with the stated goal of bringing transformational change to promote the development of the backward state, That he doesn’t think he is taking any major steps. apart. During a recent interaction with the editors of the Press Trust of India, he said, “What I was earlier advising political parties and their leaders, I am now communicating directly with the people, be it the issues they want to raise. Or should an organization be formed at the grassroots level?

Sunil Kanugolu, who played a key role in several state campaigns of the BJP, is now part of the Congress task force for 2024. He is credited with the victory of Karnataka and the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Partha Pratim Das got into consulting when, as his final project at IIM-Bangalore, he advised Ajay Singh, who was contesting the 2013 assembly elections from Jewargi in Karnataka. Singh defeated the sitting BJP MLA by 36,700 votes. Mr Das founded political strategy firm Chanakya with Arindam Manna and his team in November 2013 and he worked with Singh once again in 2018 to win the same seat.

“Social media was very new in 2009. Before that, voting patterns were according to family interests or trends. Previous politicians used to roam around like LK Advani or Mulayam Singh Yadav. The new generation politicians are not used to being on the field. “They are more tech savvy, mathematics is coming into play… Earlier surveys were not conducted at this level… Now reversing or devising strategies has become the need of the new generation politics,” Mr Das told news agency PTI. told.

“Political consultancy role is growing, people are willing to spend… Parties and candidates have realized that they can no longer fight elections… They need WhatsApp content, personal content, social media posts… They can’t do it on their own, he said, adding, “These days, parties also have internal consultants and at least 60 parties and candidates take professional help.” However, in 2016, the founder of “War Room Strategy” Tushar Panchal says that political consulting is not a new domain and has been around for decades but earlier this work was done more secretly.

“For a long time we did not like to be in the front but we were backroom boys. This happened because of PK’s promotion. Earlier the focus was on maintaining secrecy and strategists were behind the scenes but today everyone wants that wagon. To ride that is going at full speed,” Mr Panchal told the Press Trust of India.

“Earlier, it was not as fancy and glamorous as it is today. We used to be part of an advertising agency and there was no field defined as political strategy consulting. Today the work is not much different but the tools have changed,” He added. Mr Panchal said the consultancy fees depend on which areas the consultant or agency is handling for the party or candidate.

He said, “The industry is very fragmented. Pricing varies client-by-client. We do not work with individual candidates as a policy, but only with political parties.” According to consultants, building a political campaign usually takes months and each strategist has a different approach to building a campaign for their candidate. “Typically, strategists provide end-to-end services to a politician or political party, and begin work five to six months before an election.” “They provide data services, including polling for each constituency. -Includes booth data, historical data on changes in voting patterns at the seat as well as ground surveys to understand voter concerns.