Political consultants gear up for poll season with strategic campaigns

Before the onset of the poll season, political consultants are busy strategising party campaigns and manifestos. Archis Mohan gives insights into their plans

The upcoming poll season is set to host a series of high-stakes electoral battles, with a particularly compelling contest anticipated in Andhra Pradesh. Here, two election strategists — a mentor and his former protégé — will plan the fight for the state’s 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats. This contest will highlight the increasing importance of political consultants, not just for election readiness, but also for their role in gathering grassroots feedback for manifesto creation and the shaping and rollout of welfare schemes.
 

This Andhra Pradesh scrimmage is intriguing for another reason. The challenger, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), led by N Chandrababu Naidu, aims to overcome the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP)’s welfare-focused electoral pitch with its own set of more extensive “super six guarantees”. The TDP plans to appeal to the state’s electorate to prioritise economic development over further debt, showcasing Naidu’s track record as a chief minister who attracted industries to Andhra Pradesh and boosted its revenue.
 

Behind the scenes, the two rivals —Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSRCP and Naidu’s TDP — will have strategists Rishi Raj Singh of Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) and Robbin Sharma of Showtime Consulting managing the elections for the two parties, respectively. Both Singh and Sharma hail from the IPAC stable and consider Prashant Kishor, who founded IPAC in 2015, as their mentor.

Robbin Sharma

 

But for the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls, which will coincide with the Lok Sabha elections, Kishor is assisting the TDP and guiding Sharma’s team. Sources within the TDP and Showtime Consulting confirmed this. According to one source, most mornings see Kishor, before embarking on his Jan Suraj Yatra across Bihar, joining Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh, Sharma, and his team for a conference call daily.
 

Over the past year, Sharma has assisted the National People’s Party, led by Conrad Sangma, in the Meghalaya Assembly polls in February 2023. His team is also aiding Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and his son and Lok Sabha member Shrikant Shinde. However, for Sharma and Showtime Consulting, the ultimate prize is Andhra Pradesh.
 

The TDP, with the help of Sharma and his team’s inputs, is countering the YSRCP’s social welfare programme — which Singh’s IPAC helped Jaganmohan Reddy shape — with Naidu’s “super six” social welfare guarantees. A member of Sharma’s team explained to Business Standard that “too many conditions apply to the YSRCP’s welfare schemes, such as only one woman from a low-income household being entitled to the government’s monthly allowance. The TDP has promised the allowance to all women irrespective of the number of women in a household or their income background.”

Rishi Raj Singh

 

Showtime Consulting has designed padayatras, or foot marches, across the state for Lokesh and public outreach programmes for Naidu, a strategy similar to the one employed by IPAC under Kishor and Singh in 2019. Reddy’s walkathons in the elections five years ago helped the YSRCP secure a two-thirds majority — a staggering 151 of 175 seats. However, Sharma’s team is eager to shift the political discourse in Andhra Pradesh beyond the promises of direct benefit transfers. “Our agenda will showcase the wealth creation during Naidu’s stints as the CM. For example, he brought Kia Motors to India, which is now one of the biggest tax contributors,” Sharma said.
 

But the IPAC team, assisting Reddy, remains unfazed, citing Andhra Pradesh’s significant progress in social and economic indices over the past five years, with funds directly reaching the pockets of the people. The IPAC has fine-tuned the “village volunteer” system, a network of 255,000 salaried workers ensuring effective scheme implementation.
 

The IPAC continues its work with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, too. The BJP, having lost the 2021 Assembly polls in the state and performed poorly in the panchayat and civic elections, has engaged Jarvis Technology and Strategy Consulting to manage its campaign for the Lok Sabha polls there; the party lacks a robust organisation in the state. Diggaj Mogra of Jarvis declined to comment when contacted by Business Standard.
 

The BJP’s experience in West Bengal shows that political consultants perform vital roles even for parties with a strong organisational network. Over recent years, Varahe Analytics and the Association of Billion Minds (ABM) have partnered with the BJP in multiple states. For the Congress, Sunil Kanogolu, another IPAC alumnus, assisted the party with its Karnataka Assembly election campaign in May 2023. The newly elected government in Karnataka subsequently accorded him a Cabinet rank as an advisor to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
 

However, Kanogolu did not undertake the preparation for the Madhya Pradesh poll, with Congress state unit chief Kamal Nath reluctant to relinquish the party’s election management controls. Party sources suggest that Kanogolu will contribute indirectly to the party’s 2024 Lok Sabha poll preparedness. Some within the party believe Kanogolu is hesitant to associate with a campaign that appears underwhelming, given the party’s substantial resource allocation to Rahul Gandhi’s 66-day Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
 

Naresh Arora of DesignBoxed discovered during his team’s tenure with the Congress in the Rajasthan Assembly polls that a lost election, even one fought exceptionally well, bodes ill for a political consultant. In Rajasthan, a state where no incumbent government has returned to power since 1998, the Congress lost but increased its vote share and secured a respectable number of seats. Suggestions from DesignBoxed that the party drop several of its sitting legislators or form alliances with smaller parties, such as the Bharatiya Adivasi Party, went unheeded. “The Congress lost 22 seats by fewer than 5,000 votes, nine of which were lost by a margin of 1,000 votes or less. But few would remember how well we fought, and the consultant gets the brickbats,” a source from DesignBoxed stated.
 

Whether they receive praise or criticism, the challenges of managing apps, call centres, sharp digital outreach, and data analysis are beyond the capabilities of most political parties. 
 

This is where political consultants, an industry estimated to be worth Rs 2,500 crore and employing over 30,000 people, continue to play a crucial role.

Leading strategists

Inclusive Minds: Sunil Kanogolu was the Congress strategist for the May 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls 

and helped organise the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He will spearhead the party’s campaigns in the upcoming Assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra.

Varahe Analytics and Association of Billion Minds (ABM): These two organisations collaborate with

the BJP. The ABM’s initiative — Nation With NAMO — is currently recruiting political consultants for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. It also orchestrated the BJP’s 2019 Lok Sabha campaigns, such as “My first vote for Modi”, “Modi hai to mumkin hai” and “Main bhi chowkidar”. Varahe made significant contributions to the BJP's 2021 Assam election campaign and the 2022 Uttarakhand and Goa poll campaigns, including providing inputs on the party's manifestos. The ABM, under the leadership of Himanshu Singh, assisted the BJP in its recent campaigns in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana.

Jarvis Consulting: Led by Diggaj Mogra, Jarvis Consulting manages the BJP's 300-plus call centres through the Saral app. The firm will be central to the BJP’s West Bengal campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. 

IPAC: Founded by Prashant Kishor in 2015 and currently headed by Rishi Raj Singh, IPAC manages the election affairs of the ruling YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh and Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

Showtime Consulting: The Robbin Sharma-led team is assisting the TDP in Andhra and Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's public outreach. Sources suggest that Prashant Kishor is mentoring Sharma and his team for the TDP's campaign.

DesignBoxed:  Led by Naresh Arora, DesignBoxed managed the Congress' Rajasthan campaign in 2023, as well as the party's Assam campaign in 2021, introducing the concept of "guarantees" for the first time. It is assisting Karnataka Congress state unit chief D K Shivakumar. It is in negotiations to assist the Samajwadi Party in UP, the Congress in Goa, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and allies in Maharashtra.
 

Populous Empowerment Network: Led by Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin's son-in-law V Sabareesan, it assists in the DMK's digital outreach.

• Several other agencies are working in this space, including Abbin Theepura-led Politique Marquer and former Aam Aadmi Party social media team chief Ankit Lal's Politique Advisors