CHENNAI: K Swaminathan, founder and CEO of Aspire Ventures, is the first person in the country to have been appointed as secretary of the IT wing of a State political party (AIADMK). He was appointed for this post by J Jayalalithaa in 2013 after he submitted a detailed report on poll strategy using big data analysis. This landed him the post of IT wing secretary and he was entrusted with the online election campaign of the AIADMK. Express caught up with him for a chat on the importance of IT wings and the new software he has developed for poll analysis.
What is the need for an IT wing in political parties?
One-fourth of the electorate is less than 30 years old. And about 45 per cent of the electorate is less than 40 years old. Statistics revealed that 80 per cent of this age group (below 40 years), are connected to social media especially by smartphone and PC. The trend of these youngsters attending public meetings of political parties, has totally declined. Their entire decision-making process is based on what they are seeing and listening.
It is said that you have developed a software to crack the poll challenges. Can you tell us more about it?
Yes, we have developed an AI (artificial intelligence) machine (a software) called ‘Analytical Software for Psephological Influencers Research and Engagement 2.0 (ASPIRE 2.0)’ with an aim to crack the poll challenges effectively. Through this software we can get voters’ list, census data, voters pulse, detailed scrutinised details of past elections among other details.
How will this software help political parties in election campaigns?
ASPIRE 2.0 can track the voters’ pulse and we can change the style of campaign accordingly.
In order to increase the winnability, the software has been developed with the ability to provide real-time inputs to guide leaders to address issues, which are peak during the election, or plan for the polls before taking any decision over the change of campaign style.
How exactly will the software track the voter’s pulse?
In order to find the exact pulse of the voters and the general public, the software analyses the social media posts, readers’ comments of various media news, YouTube videos and feedback. Through this, we can easily find the sentiment of the public on any issue and take a right decision based on the analytical report. Besides, a program has been developed in the AI machine called Sentimeter, which is an artificial intelligence software that helps analyse sentiments of people in real time by analysing over hundred thousands of data points.
Can we get poll analysis from the past elections with this software?
Yes. We have stored the details and poll analysis of various general and by-elections which were held during the last four decades in this software.
Do you think this software will change the political scenario of the country in future?
Yes, because the software can be used by an independent candidate or a party. Already political parties in most of the countries have started to use big analytical data. The time for Indian political parties to take up the data analysis is not far and Tamil Nadu will be a pioneer in this technology.