To steer poll campaign, Congress volunteers in Punjab double as strategists

Tribune News Service

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, February 2

The Congress has set up an in-house poll mechanism for the Assembly elections, overcoming the challenge of hiring a professional strategist. In 2017, the party had hired poll strategist Prashant Kishor.

A 200-volunteer team, drawn from state units of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and other states have been positioned in all 117 segments for the real-time feedback.

Active for the past over two months, volunteers include elected representatives from block development committees (BDC) to secretaries and general secretaries in the state units. The elections have provided an opportunity to set up a robust in-house mechanism to run a digital campaign and it would be replicated in other states.

Volunteers, who are also successful professionals, are sparing time to be part of the electoral experience. The in-house team is getting the feedback on the candidates, addressing issues of voters and reaching out the intended beneficiaries of government schemes.

Gokul Butail, in-charge of the election control room for the state Congress, says, “The volunteers are getting an opportunity to hone their professional and networking skills, connect with the grassroots-level workers and at the same time interact with the top leadership. The opportunity offers incentives to rise in the party.” During Rahul Gandhi’s visit on January 27, the volunteers played a key role in digitally connecting voters with party leaders.

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