Politicians are increasingly hiring political consultancy firms to help devise pre-election and post-election strategies. These firms provide services like voter profiling, speech drafting, and campaign management. Several candidates in recent state elections in India hired such consultants. Political consultancies are seeing growing demand as elections become more professionally run. However, there are concerns about ethics and some consultants succumbing to partisan politics.

1. Politicians Hiring Agencies to
Blow Their Trumpets
COMPLETE PACKAGE Political consultancy companies help candidates
devise pre-poll and post-election strategies

2. Contd..
In the run-up to the Rajasthan assembly elections in 2013, an
independent MLA from the southeast part of the state was approached
by both the competing national parties offering their tickets. Now, he
was in a dilemma over whether to join one of them or to contest on his
own.The politician engaged a political consultancy firm who, after doing
their own independent surveys and research, advised him to join one
of the national political parties. He won the election beating a
seasoned MP despite an unfavourable belt was added in his
constituency. His party also won the election.

3. Contd..
Increasingly , standalone candidates across
political parties are hiring professionals to devise
their pre-election and post-election strategies and
execute them, boosting the nascent political
advisory business in India with consultants
mushrooming across the country .
Political Edge, Election Awaz, Today's Chanakya
and Rann Neeti are among the better-known
political advisories even as several former
bureaucrats, journalists and public relations
veterans are entering a field that is deemed to
have huge potential in the world's biggest
democracy.

4. Contd..
“We first understand the client's needs and then make an action plan
after consulting experienced professionals from various backgrounds
such as advertising, NGOs, political analysts and public relation,“ said
Antara Desai, co-founder of Rann Neeti.
“We then coordinate and work with the politician's own in-house team
for execution of the plan. Each project comes with its own set of
challenges so we put together a custom team,“ added Desai who along
with Rohit Deshpande launched the Mumbai-based political advisory in
August.

5. Contd..
Industry insiders consider the last
general election as a watershed
moment that changed the way
elections are being fought in the
country.
Several candidates in recent assembly
elections in Maharashtra, Haryana,
Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir hired
consultancies and some aspirants for
upcoming Delhi elections too have
roped in consultants.

6. Contd..
“We are actively working with individual candidates aspiring to contest
the upcoming Delhi Elections,“ said Saurabh Vyas, director and co-
founder of Delhi-based Political Edge, who helped many politicians
devise election strategies before tying up with fellow Mumbai IIT
alumni Gaurav Rathore to start the consulting firm in 2010.
“We have presence in almost all the states of India and are working for
assembly as well as general elections,“ he said, but refused to share
names of his clients citing non-disclosure agreement.

7. Contd..
The services political advisories offer include voter profiling, analysis of the
competition, drafting speeches, training campaign teams, crisis management and
educating voters, among other things.
Rann Neeti's Deshpande said there's a need to bring in professionalisation into
political engagements. “Politicians de cide to engage with people only a few
weeks before elections and make clichéd promises, which make most people
indifferent and consequently less involved,“ he said.

8. Contd..
During the recent state elections in Maharashtra, Rann Neeti had
helped BJP candidates Prakash Mehta and Sardar Tara Singh devise
their strategy.
Atul Shah, spokesperson for BJP in Maharashtra, said the party provides
all necessary help in terms of strategies, network and resources to its
candidates. “However, of late many candidates take help from advisory
startups and consultancies as per their requirement,“ he said.

9. Contd..
Ahead of the recent Jammu & Kashmir assembly
elections, an aspirant of ticket from BJP had
hired a consulting firm six months in advance to
create awareness about him. The exercise paid
off as he got the ticket and won the election.
Kanan Dhru, founder and managing director of
Research Foundation of Governance in India
(RFGI), a think tank working for legal and
political reforms, said a professionally run
election advisory can create a significant impact
in capturing the real demands of constituencies
and their people. “However, there is a need to
make sure they stay ethical in their functioning
and do not succumb to the politics of politics,“
he said.

10. Contd..
A candidate can spend up to . 70 lakh on campaigning for ` Lok Sabha
elections in bigger states and ` . 54 lakh in smaller states. While, in
assembly elections, a candidate can spend around ` . 28 lakh.

11. Parveen Kumar Chadha… THINK TANK
(Founder and C.E.O of Saxbee Consultants & Other-Mother )
Email :-saxbeeconsultants@gmail.com
Mobile No. +91-9818308353
Address:-First Floor G-20(A), Kirti Nagar, New Delhi India
Postal Code-110015