How is BJP going to utilize data analytics for 2019 general elections?

Today, almost all major political parties in India (and across the world) hire agencies to help them win elections. And these agencies usually leverage data analysis to map campaigns and strategies.

(courtesy: s4.scoopwhoop.com)

In fact, data has been the key asset of Prashant Kishore, a political strategist, who propelled to the mainstream after leading BJP to a massive victory in 2019. Currently, Mr. Kishore is serving JDU in Bihar—and last I heard about him on news, he’s doing quite well in the political spectrum of the country with top politicians fanning over him.

So, it’s fair to say that BJP, as well as Congress, will deploy intensive data-based strategies during the campaigns of General Election 2019—like they have been doing all these 4 years. Virtually every party today have so-called “war rooms”—turning the election, what traditionally and rhetorically was a “festival of democracy”, into legitimate wars with riots and propaganda. In fact, it’s hard to believe that the recent Bulandshahr violence, where a cop was killed by a mob, wasn’t a part of the well-thought political strategy of any party to polarize the state ahead of the election.

(Courtesy: medium.com)

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A report on The Indian Express, dating back to September 18, 2018, quotes, “War rooms are getting ready and thousands of volunteers being trained in data analytics and communication through digital platforms as parties, including not just the Congress and the BJP but also smaller players like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), prep for the electoral battle ahead.” (source)

The report also adds that BJP has over 1.2 million volunteers which assuringly will play in its favor to turn data-driven strategies into reality.

Coming to the technical part of how BJP can use data analytics in General Election 2019, the ways are seamless. Off the top of my head – and what we’ve all been seeing on social media channels all these months – the party (or its hired agency) can segment voters into different groups of, say, fans, supporters, neutral, against, and more. Then they can deploy different kind of messages among these groups to drive higher engagement.

(courtesy: thewire.in)

In addition, it can also use demographic-based data to make strategies. It can use social media and various other avenues to identify the voters’ sentiments in a given demography and then can employ different tactics accordingly. In fact, this is a simple way how BJP, and other political parties, integrate riots in their political strategies. If the sentiment of a locality, town or village is against the party, they can instigate unrest to further polarize the sentiments, which can help them strengthen support in different areas where they were already in good position.

Again, BJP, and other political parties can use data analytics in many and many ways to influence voters and the society at large. They can use hard data to identify individuals, influencers, communities, haters, fans, intellects, bhakts, commis, and more—and they can use this in their own favor.

Remember, it might not look so but today data is the biggest and most devastating weapon in the world. (It also has many benefits btw!) There’s a reason why the majority of the political parties in the world are extensively relying on data to design their campaigns. There’s a reason why there was such a big uproar against Cambridge Analytica scandal. There’s a reason why EU has been more serious about data protection laws than ever.

Because private data and analytics can literally be used to change the scope of a society.

So, this time, ahead and during General Election 2019, expect all the parties in the country bet big on agencies who champion data analytics.

As it is being said, every official will be going to at least 20 houses for the “Chai par charcha” sessions. And what are they supposed to do there? As expected from them, they will brag about the achievements of our honorable Prime Minister. BJP has already appointed legislators, MPs, and booth level workers for the task. The idea is to have a one to one dialogue with the public o that their grievances can be heard directly.

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Besides all this, there is the “Ghar Ghar Campaign”. For this, a team of 145-20 people will be appointed for every booth. And another strategy includes the “Namo app” through which, people will keep in touch with the images and achievements of the Modi-government. Each booth will be connected with at least 100 persons.

These are the kind of techniques BJP is thinking on to get through the coming elections.