New Delhi, The AAP’s victory in Delhi assembly polls has yet again brought the focus on election strategist Prashant Kishor and his firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), which first changed the contours of political campaigning by introducing Narendra Modi’s famous ‘chai pe charcha’ campaign in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Kishor had joined hands with the AAP in December last year, and he advised the party to not respond to the negative campaigning of the BJP, which were focussed more on the anti-CAA protests in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.
Latest trends received by the afternoon showed Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leading on 62 out of 70 seats in Delhi. The AAP had won 67 seats in the 2015 Assembly polls.
Following the trends, Kishor took to Twitter to write: “Thank you Delhi for standing up to protect the soul of India.”
Kishor, who joined the Janata Dal-United in September 2018, was expelled from the party last month for speaking against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
He designed the campaign for Delhi elections, focusing on the works done by the Kejriwal-led AAP in education as well as the health sector highlighting the classrooms and schools with swimming polls and the Mohalla clinics.
The I-PAC sources said that even the AAP’s theme song, which was composed by noted Bollywood music director Vishal Dadlani, was made “Lage Raho Kejriwal” highlighting the government’s work. During the 2015 Assembly polls, the AAP’s campaign song was titled “5 saal Kejriwal”.
According to the I-PAC team placed at the residence of Kejriwal during campaigning, Kishor has highlighted 15 seats with the negative outlook.
Instrumental in stitching then BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Modi’s famous ‘chai pe charcha’ campaign, he once again proved his mettle in the Delhi Assembly elections.
Before the Delhi Assembly polls, Kishor’s I-PAC has designed campaigns for Nitish Kumar’s JD-U which fought the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls in alliance with the Lalu Prasad-led RJD and the Congress, for Congress in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in 2017, for the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal bypolls in 2019 and for Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh in 2019.
Except the results of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the I-PAC has never let down its clients. In the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the Congress which joined hands with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party was decimated. During the Bihar assembly polls, Kishor had brought the theme song for the assembly polls, ‘Ghar Ghar Nitishe’, while in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, it highlighted the ‘ladke of UP’.
Kishor had also organised the ‘khat pe charcha’ programme for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ahead of the assembly polls in the Uttar Pradesh. He then brought ‘Coffee pe charcha’ campaign during the Punjab assembly polls involving Captain Amarinder Singh.
Meanwhile, most recently, his team gave one of the most impressive victories for the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in West Bengal’s assembly by-polls where it managed to win on all the four seats. Similarly, he stitched a sweet victory in Andhra Pradesh for Reddy who defeated N. Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party’s (TDP) in the Assembly polls with a huge margin.
The DMK said earlier this month said it has signed up Kishor’s I-PAC to help shape its campaign for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections next year.
