Backroom boys turn warriors in UP ‘war rooms’

Lucknow: They were the traditional backroom boys who formed the backbone of election activity in every party. They quietly and efficiently did their work and remained away from media glare. They managed every problem — from sending funds to candidates and arranging the programmes of star campaigners to providing election material to mediapersons.

This year, however, things have changed. The backroom boys are positioned in the forefront of election activity in every party. They sit in air conditioned comfort of “war rooms”, that are equipped with smartphones, multiple TV screens, Internet facilities, and are allowed to project their expertise in the media. However, they no longer extend a helping hand to candidates and mediapersons but happily pass the buck to other party leaders.

The Samajwadi Party war room is located in the Janeshwar Misra Trust office, adjacent to the state party headquarters, and is headed by Ashish Yadav, a media communication expert. With nearly 50 girls and boys working round the clock, the war room monitors the media content related to the party, while another section is concentrating on the digital content on social media. Yet another module works as a research cell.

However, the team is at a loss when it comes to dissemination of information to the media. Ask for candidates’ lists, previous vote share or even the 2012 manifesto and you are directed to meet “party leaders”. The audio video section is headed by Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, a Lucknow native in his early thirties who runs one of India’s largest independent digital agencies out of Mumbai. At the war room, Aftab heads the digital section that takes care of campaigns across Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp and sends out ad campaigns on social media and then maps the response from across Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP has set up a similar war room and Danish, 28, a management expert, is in charge of monitoring TV channels. He sits in a room that has eight TVs mounted on a wall. Every day he prepares a report and hands it to senior leaders, giving an idea of the kind of coverage the party is getting. Sanjay Rai is in charge of the 8,000 pro-BJP WhatsApp groups that have been created across the state to target over 12 lakh voters. The party’s Facebook and Twitter pages are helping reach over one crore voters.

The Congress war room is not as tech-savvy as SP and BJP but after the Prashant Kishore team moved out, members of Rahul Gandhi team are managing the show. The work in Congress is kept low key but the members are better equipped when it comes to ground realities. “We are trying to strike a balance between the real and virtual world and preference is still to the real world,” said a team member. The BSP, despite being active on the social media, keeps its poll management a closely guarded secret. The media is politely kept at bay and leaders remain unwilling to talk.