When results were out on the elections to the 17th Uttar Pradesh assembly, the Gomti by Lucknow retained its end-winter calm바카라in stark contrast was the shock the Samajwadi Party got from the voters of the state. The SP, in a nascent alliance with the Congress, mustered just 54 of the 403 seats, implying that much of the gargantuan poll expenses by outgoing chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had gone down the river.
Five years ago, in the 2012 assembly polls, Akhilesh had won a decisive majority of 224 seats, leading the party바카라s campaÂign and selling himself as a youth leader. That rosy story hit the Narendra Modi wave two years later; the SP slumped to only five out of UP바카라s 80 LS seats. Still, he moved into the latest poll with new wind in his sail and a new narrative spun around himself바카라a bruising battle with the old guard in the SP part of it. With a tie-up with his young peer in the Congress, he deigned to be the main rival to the BJP.
But this narrative was built on the back of a massive ad camÂpaign, speculated to have cost hundreds of crores of rupÂees바카라that too in a political season defined by the alleged use of black money and unbilled favours. The details, to the extÂent they can be guessed at, are revealing. And they can only be guessed at바카라for the law stipulates that detaÂils of expeÂnditure be furnished with the Election Commission within 90 days of elections, but that seldom happens.
A bulk of the SP바카라s poll expenditure went to foot media expÂenses. This includes TV commercials, radio spots, glossy print media spreads, gaudy floats that blared music from aluminÂium cones and hoardings gawking at people across the country바카라s largest state. Not to mention the latest money- churner: social media. How do they all add up? We don바카라t know.
There are old figures available. The SP바카라s audit statements for 2013-14 and 바카라14-15 declared an income (fees, subscriptions, contribÂutions) of Rs 159 crore and Rs 181 crore respectively. The expÂenses shown for the respeÂctive years were around Rs 22 crore and Rs 76 crore. ExpÂerts naturally don바카라t subscribe to declared figures. 바카라PoliÂtical parties use proxy organisations to print adverts,바카라 says Alok Rai, who teaches marketing and brand management at the BHU. 바카라Parties hire agencies for which they have a very high budget.바카라 For instance, the Congress in 2014 hired Japanese ad-PR company Dentsu, Rai notes, for Rs 500 crore to fetch the party바카라s leader Rahul Gandhi an image makeover. For the parliamentary polls that time, the Grand Old Party disclosed Rs 563 crore as its total election expenses. As per the poll body바카라s data, the SP declared an expenditure of Rs 64 crore for the 2014 LS elections. Compare this with that of the BJP바카라s Rs 700 crore바카라even that, many allege was a deflated figure. Going by the pattern, how much would the SP have actually expended in 2014 and 2017? Unanswered phone calls to Akhilesh and his associates leave it a mystery.
A pollster who predicted a 250-plus seat win for the BJP in UP this time says all media houses must have earned a huge revenue from that state from 2011 till now. 바카라There were three major elections: the 2012 and 바카라17 state assembly elections and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,바카라 he notes.
Those observing UP from inside say all the contesting parties spend a lot. Initially, the SP campaigned in association with a Delhi-based image consultant. The effect was visible on the social media pages of the Yadav clan. Then, after the split in the SP earlier this year, Akhilesh and his rebel team moved on (taking the SP바카라s bicycle symbol with them), while party founder Mulayam Singh and his brother ShivÂpal Yadav remained with this image manager. That is when people started to notice a huge surge of publicity for AkhilÂesh in the English media바카라leading to rumours about 바카라paid news바카라.
Media analyst Sevanti Ninan, editor of The Hoot, says UP 2017 was not just a state election, but was tantamount to a referendum on demonetisation and the populaÂrity of the PM. 바카라There was interest in whether the BJP would repÂeat its 2014 Lok Sabha performance in UP. Elections are a huge viewership-getter and advertising draw바카라no media outlet will miss the chance to get viewers and readers,바카라 she says. 바카라Therefore, there has been a lot of legitimate interest in covering these polls.바카라 So, if Rahul won바카라t talk, it makes sense to go for the more accessible Akhilesh and put a face with the news reports. That still doesn바카라t cover the speculation about paid news. As for the social media campaign, the SP built it from scratch, strategised by a 100-strong team led by Steve Jarding, a Harvard professor who had helped with Hillary Clinton바카라s presidential campaign in the US last year.
The BJP has a huge social media cadre. On any issue, it is a matter of simply activating it and then watching the carpet-bombing that follows. 바카라The content generation and curÂation required in this is enormous,바카라 says a LuckÂnow-based journalist. 바카라The SP managed to get close to the BJP on social media sites, the latter won hands down on WhatsÂApp. Text or video, the BJP was way ahead in pushing its message.바카라 The same goes with radio spots, he adds. Each FM channel can cover up to 7-8 Vidhan Sabha seats. 바카라The BJP had stressed on radio from early, and did well on FM. They began on a high number and re-invested later on,바카라 he says. 바카라The release orders for radio ads were issued at the right time and held in a close circle to insulate it from leakages.바카라
As CM, Akhilesh used radio to communicate the development activities of his government. Bureaucrat Navneet Sehgal was a key figure here바카라Akhilesh coopted Sehgal, considered a powerful officer during Mayawati바카라s last tenure, and turned it around with the radio playing a big role. Listeners in Delhi heard the popular Neelesh Misra promoting UP바카라s schemes through his talk-show. Outlook spoke to Misra, but he claims to not see much of a story in media expenses during elections. The successful strategy prompÂted the CM to draw Sehgal closer to his government바카라s image management.
The SP-Congress alliance also ran advertisement campaÂigns through strategist Prashant Kishor바카라s team. But Kishor could not replicate his success in the 2014 BJP campaign or the 2015 JD(U) campaign in Bihar, reportedly hurdled by the Congress바카라 inner bickering.
So, why the huge spend?
바카라A CM has different government agencies at his disposal, and would perhaps be aware that he바카라d only get 50 seats,바카라 says Prof Rai. 바카라Akhilesh바카라s father handed him the government, he got the party and symbol through a coup and now he has to drum up support for himself. Through the entire media exeÂrcise, Akhilesh was positioning himself as a future leader for a larger role or a space in future elections in the state.바카라
The very nature of electoral politics has changed since the advent of cult politics that requires the creation of individual brands over the corporate (party) brands, adds Rai. 바카라Individual brands require communication of a certain set of attributes and this new demand has made electoral politics a very expensive affair,바카라 he explains. 바카라When you spend on brand communication, the customer develops many expectations and when these are not met, there is brand dissonance. That is what Arvind Kejriwal has been doing in Delhi where his AAP created a brand based on anti-corruption promises through a social organisation. The side effects will be very heavy, as seen by his result in Punjab.바카라
On the internet, 43-year-old Akhilesh바카라s face popped up in well-Âdesigned ads that had a hyperlink to the party바카라s manifesto. The caption read: Kaam Bolta hai, indicating the CM바카라s achievements from 2012-17. But, there is a jingle that goes on to say Kaam bolta hai, anjaam bolta hai. That is, work speaks for itself; so do the results.
