The Game of Politics

More and more people want to get into politics; all with one noble intention: to do good for the people. But they all end up losing the war. Look at the cases of Nandan Nilekeni in Karnataka, Jayprakash in Hyderabad, an IIT Topper in Chennai, and several other leaders across the country. The political game and the election-process are not only about the intention to do good, but also require the individuals to be shrewd in calculations and sound in strategy.

Let us consider an example: RK Nagar is going to poll with 258 polling booths for 2,24,000 people roughly translating to 1085 votes per booth. If you have the ability to personally touch these 1085 voters in that area, and similarly, all 258 booths in the given 45 days time, then, you make a difference. Mind you, this isn’t easy considering the fact there will be at least 100 booths that will have one-party domination and an equal number of booths where two parties will go neck to neck. The state of the independent ‘good candidate’ finally narrows down to at best 10 booths which means 10850 votes. Even there, ruling and opposition parties will have a vote share; plus, like-minded good candidates will garner some. Finally, you end up with 5-10K votes at the end of the day. If you are great candidate you will finish with an average of 10% votes that means 22400 votes. This, you may consider, as the best possibleoutcome for yourself. Imagine that you float a party, and there are 235 constituencies in Tamil Nadu; you need to be in a position to repeat what I just narrated while sweeping the state. A mammoth of a task, isn’t it? The politicians have cracked this secret code to be somewhere in the 30 – 40% vote market in every constituency, which means in the given 45 days, they just need to garner that extra 20% votes to be in the race. This is where their door-to-door campaigns, advertisements in newspaper / TV etc., play a dominant role. Apart from this, their ability to pick the local issue, local leaders, caste leaders, merchant clubs etc., helps them with another 10% of the votes. A newcomer and do –gooder starts with his basic step of introducing himself after filing nominations. By the time he finishes one round around the constituency, the election date comes up. There ends the campaigning. He is forgotten till the elections. Experts from political parties quote that Rs. 20 crore per constituency is what is needed to be spent (Conservative estimate) to participate and have a chance to win.

Does this all mean that we will be stuck with the same set of politicians? Unfortunately, with the current state of affairs, it is a big YES.

Our decision to cast a vote is also similar to how we decide on a particular toilet soap brand. The brand that is more visible; the brand that gives the tallest promise; the brand that belongs to a larger group; the brand that gives us gifts.

Rarely, that we select based on ingredients, process, or quality of raw materials.

Where & How should the change come from?

From the candidate himself. They should become volunteersway before they intend to contest. They need to take up welfare activities along with friends whom they intend to start this party with and get connected with people from all sections. Eg: The formation of AAP. Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi both rode the wave formed by Anna Hazare and capitalised on it to carve a career for themselves. Kejriwal started AAP; Kiran Bedi joined BJP and is now a Governor.

The candidate needs to understand the geography in which they operate, the number of people, the number of shops, PDS outlets, schools, colleges, primary health centers, sex-ratio, drinking water pipes, tanks, electricity polls, waste disposal mechanism, and everything else. As this knowledge will help during speeches, interviews, media interaction, and, well, interaction with the general populace.

The candidate should create an organisation with a structure that will reach out to every constituency and form constituency based groups. These groups should be allotted different departments like a mock ministry, and the individual groups will be a part of drafting the manifesto during the elections.

The candidate needs to be on top of everything that is going on in the constituency and should, without a hesitation, get in and give his point of view.

The manifesto should address all cross-sections of people including the dominating ones in that constituency.

One big burning issue needs to be a consistent discussion point for the candidate apart from all other things. Consider the following: Sterlite by Vaiko; Lokpal by Kejriwal; Swissbank by Modi; Mandir by BJP; Nano by Mamta; Tamil by Karunanithi; Farmers by YSR; and so on. This gives them an identity and a relatability that remains unique to theeir face-value. The more sharper the issue that you take the better chance you have to win. (Kamal went to Ennore and spoke about something that I can’t remember, but didn’t follow up; and now no one remembers.)

Bottenecks that you will have to face

The caste that you belong to should be a popular one; even here if you are from a forward/upward caste, issues will be raised!

The friends around you also need to have a clean chit, as media is waiting to sensationalise anything and everything.

The threats and embarrassments that you will face during your journey will leave you red-faced (you need to be a thug as well!)

Funding. You need to really mobilise a lot of money to stay ahead.

Good intentions are great beginnings, but if you don’t crack the code, the game of politics shall leave you defeated.