Congress said its chief Rahul Gandhi sought the opinion of party workers through the Shakti platform to decide on the CM candidates.
New Delhi: Amid the prolonged suspense over Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s choice of chief ministerial candidates in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the spotlight has shifted to the party’s data analytics department which runs the Shakti platform.
Gandhi had sent “personalised” audio messages through the Shakti platform to over seven lakh active party workers who were keenly involved in the three states. The message was the party will use the inputs to take a final call on the CM candidates.
Shakti, an internal software platform, connects Congress workers across the country with the party headquarters, which in turn uses the database to gather feedback. It is run by the party’s data analytics department, headed by political economist Praveen Chakravarty. The project was launched in July.
“We don’t know why it is being called an app. It is a complex digital system,” said a senior Congress functionary.
“Party workers were not asked to vote for a candidate as no choice was given. Rather they were asked to suggest a name for the CM post,” the functionary said.
Sources said the exercise was completed Wednesday and Gandhi was given a report.
The functionary said this was not the first time the Congress president had used the platform to reach out to party workers. During the polls held in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, Gandhi had sent personalised messages to over 11 lakh workers asking them to go out and ensure that people vote.
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How does it work?
The Congress has devised an internal system in which it has ranked its workers on the Shakti platform, which collates data and engages with the workers.
The workers who received Gandhi’s message were those the team had identified as active ones — booth-level workers who worked “tirelessly in the three states”.
“These workers were identified and sent a text message that they will get a call from the party president and will have to give their choice on who should head the respective states,” said another functionary. “It is a personalised message and during that call itself they are supposed to give their choice.”
Different, more complex, says Congress
A senior Congress leader rubbished claims that the Congress had taken a cue from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has relied on social media and technology-driven systems in the past. The leader said Shakti is a “much more complex system”.
“In the past, parties have used inputs from party workers to select candidates or chief ministers. For instance, district presidents were asked to collect feedback and submit reports,” said the senior leader.
“But here we are using a system in one go to reach out to lakhs at the same time. The party president is connecting directly with the party workers.”
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Role in candidate selection
For candidate selection too, the data analytics team gave inputs on the strength and weaknesses of the candidates. More than six lakh people across five states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram — were asked to give names of candidates they felt should be fielded by the Congress.
The entire exercise was completed in October allowing the senior leadership to take the results into account apart from other factors to arrive at a final decision.
Because of the Shakti project, the Congress high command is even aware of the concentration of party workers in a particular area. Gandhi is said to contact some of these workers directly ahead of his public rallies.