The Hindu : New Delhi News : Now outsourcing comes to the aid of parties

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 04, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Now outsourcing comes to the aid of parties

By Lalit K. Jha

NEW DELHI, APRIL 3. Much to the discomfiture of grassroot-level political workers in the Capital, leaders of all major political parties are outsourcing a major portion of their month-long campaign programme for the May 10 Lok Sabha elections to private entrepreneurs.

From putting up posters, banners and hoardings to making arrangements for public meetings, interaction with the media and distribution of voter's slips, outsourcing seems to have become the order of the day. "Gone are the days when hundreds of party workers toiled round the clock to put up posters, banners and hoardings and worked all through the night to prepare the voter's slips for distribution in every house before the elections. Now these are being handled by private entrepreneurs," says a local Bharatiya Janata Party leader who has been a poll manager for senior party leaders over the past three decades.

Most BJP candidates have already outsourced a major portion of their campaign programme. Same is the case with Congress leaders. "We have already identified the parties who would be doing the job for us," said a Congress leader who was actively involved in the party's campaign in the recently-held Delhi Assembly elections. "Contesting elections has now taken the shape of event management. Thus the need to bring in professional inputs," he said.

Campaign managers of both the Congress and the BJP say one major reason for "outsourcing" gaining ground is the fast-paced life of a metropolitan city like Delhi where people are hard-pressed for time. Also due to intense factionalism in the party, the contesting candidates most of the times do not want to take the risk of depending entirely on party workers.

"Party workers think that they are doing us an obligation by campaigning for us. Their job is not only not up to the mark, but also unprofessional. Once we outsource a task, we are sure that the work would be completed on time. We can pull them up for any mistake. If we do this with our party workers, they will harm our poll prospects," said a BJP poll manager. "Party workers cannot be held accountable for any mistake, but this is not the case with private companies," the Congress leader said.

For instance, the senior BJP leader V. K. Malhotra, who is seeking re-election to the Lok Sabha from South Delhi, has outsourced the entire task of preparation of the voter's list, computerised voter's slips and door-to-door distribution. The Union Labour Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, is seriously exploring the option of hiring people to man polling booths on May 10.

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