HOW TO MAKE UNPOPULAR CANDIDATES WIN, THE TRINAMOOL WAY

The question that has left everybody flummoxed is how the Trinamool Congress managed to wrest victory for its unpopular and unwinnable candidates’ in the face of serious anti-incumbency.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

That the Lok Sabha elections threw up unexpected results is well-known by now. In West Bengal, the better than expected performance of the Trinamool Congress and the consequent under-perfor mance by its arch-rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party, defied all oracular pollsters and poll watchers. From Prashant Kishor to myriad television channels, all had to eat humble pie as the Trinamool Congress increased its tally to 29 seats while the BJP's seats dwindled to 12 and the Congress had to be content with just one.

The question that has left everybody flummoxed is how the Trinamool Congress managed to wrest victory for its "unpopular and unwinna ble candidates" in the face of serious anti-incumbency. The Sunday Guardian pieces together the puzzle after speaking extensively to Trinamool insiders and key members of the I-PAC team that made it possible and who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Addressing a press confer ence on 4 June, hours after the trends of the Lok Sabha results became public, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thanked I-PAC for extending support to her party. "I am thanking all the Trinamool grassroots and the entire team of I-PAC," she said. She also added that poll strategist Prashant Kishor was not with I-PAC and it was a new team that worked with her party.

During the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, the IPAC team not only designed campaign strategies for Trinamool candidates but also played a key role in reaching out to different categories of voters, including Scheduled Tribe and OBC candidates and women. The representatives of I-PAC reached out to beneficiaries of several schemes of the West Bengal government, particularly women, and convinced them to vote for the state's ruling party.