Navigating the Political Landscape: A Journey from Delhi University to the Helm of Telangana Elections

From the corridors of Delhi University to the helm of the ongoing Telangana election has been a breathtaking journey. Always a keen student of politics, passionate about creating impact and transform human lives I was actively looking out for enhancing myself. I always wanted to learn the nitty-gritty of real politics and its implications so that I can consult political leaders and create much needed impact through them. Always inspired by Prashant Kishor one fine day while browsing through social media, I saw an online advertisement by School of Politics about their launch of flagship certification course in Political Campaigns and Electoral Strategy. After doing basic due diligence about the organisation, its founder and syllabus I was very convinced and decided to enrol in the course.

Political consulting in India involves providing strategic advice and services to political parties, candidates, and other stakeholders in the political landscape. These services include campaign management, voter outreach, public relations, data analysis, and policy research. Political consultants help their clients navigate the complex and competitive Indian political environment, offering insights on electoral strategies, image building, and issue management. They play a crucial role in shaping public perception, winning elections, and influencing policy decisions. The Indian political consulting industry has grown significantly in recent years, with professionals employing modern campaign techniques and leveraging digital and social media to reach a diverse and vast electorate.

Three months of comprehensive learning with so much of practical real-life discussions and brainstorming transformed my life. It was a very enriching experience. Founder of the School of Politics, Abhimanyu has exceptional experience in the domain with very in-depth knowledge. Every session or interaction would teach something very new. The course is nicely structured into ten modules, and starts from very basic and goes upto advanced level as much as it can go. There are five practical assignments attached to this course which makes it implementation-based learning. Through guest lectures subject matter experts who have worked years in the political consulting domain bestow their expertise and learnings. Rimjhim Gaur (Founder, Sapiens Research) helped us in getting the sense of challenges in conducting ground survey, Ayush Jain (Co-founder at School of Politics) gave a holistic picture of how virality works in Politics and in digital space, Pradeep Singh (ex- IPAC) talked about importance, relevance and impact of Yatra in Politics. Also there are separate bonus modules on business development, preparing us for selecting and approaching the leader, pitching and converting them as clients. In addition to all these the community of unlike-minded people (in Politics no one can be like-minded ) is cherry on the cake. It was unbelievable to see people from across the country – Kerala to Kashmir to Gujarat to Arunachal to be part of the same cohort.

Upon successful completion of course and certification, I started my entrepreneur journey in political consulting and founded "F-JAC Election Consultancy," based out of Hyderabad. Currently the organisation is steering operations across 20+ Assembly Constituencies across different election bound states. We are able to help leaders through Psephology, Operations Management, Campaign Strategies, and Cadre Management. I see an enormous opportunity in this domain in times to come. I feel myself lucky to have done the right course at the right time. Course has broadened my horizon. It has given me confidence, knowledge and skills to present the strategy to top leaders. The extent of the high quality network I am able to create is insane. It has given me direct access to the top leadership. These diverse expertise culminated in a unique fusion, crafting with a distinct business acumen, we at F-JAC aim to be leaders of the political consulting domain in years to come.

Political consulting is a fast evolving domain, as Abhimanyu puts it 2014 election was about Facebook, 2019 was WhatsApp, 2024 is reels and shorts. The necessary element is to keep up the pace with the changing time. Every year there is an advent of new technology and innovation. The School of Politics conducts virtual sessions every alternate month to update about emerging trends and technology related to Politics in India.

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Mohammad Irfan Basha, Founder, F-JAC Election Consultancy 

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha