Politicians hire survey firms to assess their poll prospects

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, August 4

Ahead of the poll season, surveys have become a popular tool among leaders to assess their chances in the electoral arena with several leading politicians having engaged private firms to evaluate their political future.

Congress aspirants on many seats in this district have roped in New Delhi-based ‘marketing and research’ companies to determine whether they will win, and by what margin, if they get the party ticket.

Politicians are paying these firms anything between Rs 1.5 to Rs 2.5 lakh per survey per Assembly seat, depending on the track record of the organisation. The companies hire locals, including students and newspaper vendors, who reach out to the masses.

“Our sample size is 2-3 per cent of the total voters. We hire unemployed youths, including students, and hawkers for the purpose. Our methodology is such that non-voters are quickly eliminated. We use online surveys, mobile surveys, paper surveys and personal interviews to reach conclusions,” said a company employee.

Two of the three sitting BJP legislators of neighbouring Pathankot district have also reached out to these companies in an attempt “to assess mood of the electorate”.

Prashant Kishor’s organisation—IPAC—has also joined the party and it has been conducting its own little assessments to identify the right candidates for seats that have several contenders. The IPAC dispatched its six members to each of the five Jan Sampark rallies held recently in the district to gather information about “the possible candidates”.

Psephologist Capt Navjeet Sandhu, who correctly predicted results of all nine Gurdaspur seats in 2014, is also in demand. He confirmed that several top Congress politicians were in touch with him. “This time, it will be a candidate-centric poll as voters will cast votes in favour of candidates and not in favour of parties. Earlier, in May this year, we surveyed 30 seats in the Kerala elections and came out with accurate results. Our job is to understand human psychology and convert it into numbers,” Sandhu said.

Punjab Congress in charge Asha Kumari is also collecting information from various sources to identify suitable candidates.