The outcome of the recently concluded Assembly election in Meghalaya has given ShowTime Consulting, the political consultancy hired by the National People’s Party (NPP), a shot in the arm. The consultancy is also doing political campaign strategy work in Andhra Pradesh for Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
In Meghalaya, Conrad Sangma-led NPP returned to power with a massive majority, winning 26 seats in the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly. What makes the victory special for ShowTime is that NPP managed to defeat the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), backed by the political consulting firm Indian Political Action Committee, popularly referred to as IPAC.
Speaking to TNM, founder of ShowTime Consulting Robbin Sharrma said that the NPP’s victory in Meghalaya was against the “muscle and money power” of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s TMC. Robbin also said that their decision to project Conrad Sangma as an aspirational leader helped.
TDP recently won in all three graduate constituency seats in the Member of Legislative Council (MLC) elections in Andhra Pradesh. “In Meghalaya, we had a meticulous, neat, microscopic strategy. Andhra will need the right mix of macro- and micro-strategy. We will however continue to give micro-strategy its due importance,” Robbin said. In the run up to the 2024 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections, ShowTime will once again face off with IPAC, which is working with the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
Founded by election strategist Prashant Kishor, IPAC is an established name in political circles and has played a crucial role in hand-holding several major leaders and political parties to electoral victories. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, and Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy are among the leaders who have used the political consultancy. The founders of Showtime Consulting have previously worked in senior leadership roles in IPAC.
In Andhra Pradesh, this is the second time that IPAC has associated itself with the YSRCP. In the 2024 Assembly election in Andhra Pradesh, CM Jagan will be battling it out seeking re-election, while former CM Naidu will be striving to make a comeback.
While IPAC has nearly 700 people working in Andhra Pradesh at present, ShowTime has a smaller team of around 350 people. In Meghalaya, ShowTime had around 150 people working for nearly 14 months on NPP’s campaign.
While there are numerous factors that are responsible for a political party’s victory, consultancy firms do play a role. Political parties hire poll strategists to help with surveys, data crunching, and other work related to electioneering. However, poll strategists themselves say that their contribution to election victories cannot be quantified or translated into figures and percentages.
ShowTime’s main aim in Meghalaya was to convey that there was no anti-incumbency sentiment against Conrad Sangma who was seeking re-election. In Andhra Pradesh, the consultancy must now highlight anti-incumbency against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. The political circumstances in Meghalaya and the factors that led to CM Conrad Sangma’s victory are entirely different from the context in Andhra Pradesh, and it remains to be seen how ShowTime fares with the TDP this time.