BENGALURU: The Congress, which was beginning to lose its Chanakya touch in the art of elections, is working to step up its game and compete with the BJP, a past master in poll engineering.The Karnataka Congress is extensively harnessing technology to prepare micro-level strategies for the Maski, Basavakalyan and Belagavi bypolls. It involves reaching out to voters in villages to consolidate its base at the grassroots.
Over the past two months, a survey was done and data collected of voters and issues in these constituencies, and given to KPCC President DK Shivakumar and Working President Eshwar Khandre. The survey was based on the ground situation, social media cues and other available tools. While a similar survey was done for RR Nagar and Sira bypolls, it has been improvised for the current bypolls.
The Congress has not tried this earlier, we are learning something new with every election, a source in the party said. While senior leaders make macro strategies, workers micro-manage.“The survey gives party leaders a clear picture of the constituencies, and helps them build strategies based on micro issues, to connect with voters, like MGNREGA, farm laws, neglect of Kalyana Karnataka region, construction of Anubhava Mantapa, Marathas etc. We also get a sense of which leaders can be changemakers to garner more votes,’’ said a leader.
Chittapura MLA Priyank Kharge, who is in charge of the survey, told TNIE that Shivakumar has given him a free hand and for the first time, they have done online and offline surveys, collected village-wise data, and drawn up a list of leaders who can influence the region.With social demography in constant flux, what works in Bengaluru may not work in Bidar or Belagavi. “Shivakumar is keen on using data points on various parameters that will help make decisions at the local level. For the first time, mobile penetration is higher at 85 per cent in rural areas than in urban India. People are getting BPL cards on their mobiles, and youngsters use social media. If we don’t harness these tools, we will be left out,” Kharge said.