ABSTRACT

Political campaigning in 2019 in Andhra Pradesh took place against the backdrop of a recent (2014) bifurcation of the state and increasing fragmentation of its party system. The campaign focussed on two powerful leaders of regional political parties: Chandrababu Naidu, the incumbent Chief Minister and leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and Jagan Mohan Reddy, the opposition leader and founder of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). The YSRCP won the election by some 11 percentage points ahead of Naidu’s TDP, and achieved a landslide in seats in the Assembly and Lok Sabha. The major catalyst for Jagan’s victory was his 14-month padayatra (walkathon) across the state, during which he met millions of people in their villages, with his images and speeches consistently featured on local TV, and his campaign’s signature emotional appeal and poll promises popularized on YouTube and Facebook. The YSRCP’s campaign was managed by India’s foremost professional political consultancy, the I-PAC, which implemented a series of online and off-line campaigns and mass outreach programmes months before the election, and brought together musicians and writers to create the most popular campaign song to date. This campaign offers an insightful example of how home-grown political consulting is transforming election campaigns in India.

摘要

安得拉邦 2019 年的政治竞选活动是在最近（2014 年）国家分裂和政党体系日益分裂的背景下进行的。该运动的重点是地区政党的两位有权势的领导人：现任首席部长兼泰卢固德萨姆党（TDP）领导人钱德拉巴布·奈杜（Chandrababu Naidu）和反对党领袖兼YSR国大党（YSRCP）创始人贾根·莫汉·雷迪（Jagan Mohan Reddy）。YSRCP在NAIDU的TDP领先约11个百分点赢得了选举，并在议会和Lok Sabha的席位上获得了滑坡。Jagan 获胜的主要催化剂是他在全州为期 14 个月的 padayatra（步行马拉松），在此期间，他在他们的村庄遇到了数百万人，他的照片和演讲一直在当地电视台播出，他的竞选活动标志性的情感诉求和民意调查承诺在 YouTube 和 Facebook 上广为人知。YSRCP 的竞选活动由印度最重要的专业政治咨询公司 I-PAC 管理，该机构在选举前几个月实施了一系列在线和离线竞选活动和大规模外展计划，并汇集了音乐家和作家创作了最受欢迎的竞选歌曲迄今为止。该活动提供了一个深刻的例子，说明本土政治咨询如何改变印度的竞选活动。并汇集了音乐家和作家，创作了迄今为止最受欢迎的竞选歌曲。该活动提供了一个深刻的例子，说明本土政治咨询如何改变印度的竞选活动。并汇集了音乐家和作家，创作了迄今为止最受欢迎的竞选歌曲。该活动提供了一个深刻的例子，说明本土政治咨询如何改变印度的竞选活动。