Political training: AAP candidates learn new tricks

Praveen Deshmukh, 28, a social activist and Aam Aadmi Party’s Jangpura candidate is filled with a new zeal and confidence,’ I now know how to conduct rally and address the gatherings, I have complete information about my area and manifesto. Basically I am armed for contesting the Delhi assembly elections.’ Deshmukh runs his own NGO which teaches homeless children. But every time he thought about their future, Deshmukh says, he realised that teaching a handful of kids wouldn’t make much of a difference. It is why he decided to join AAP, and now urges everyone to vote for his party. [caption id=“attachment_1172925” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prashant Bhushan and Party secretary Pankaj Gupta outside Delhi election commission office.[/caption] This transition from activism to politics is a common story to many AAP candidates who are now rookie politicians in need of schooling in the difficult art of electioneering. “We are not politicians. We are activists, we are concerned with the masses, but to reach out to masses and help them we need to have a few critical skills,” says Deshmukh who is learning how to interact with voters. “Now when I go to campaign I know what are the answers that I have to give. People want solutions to their problems. They ask why is there inflation? They ask why aren’t basic amenities provided to them? We answer their basic questions, we tell them how to approach higher authorities,” he says. Another innovation is teaching candidates how to use projectors in their campaign, which AAP claims has turned out to be a crowd puller. As Aam Aadmi Party gears up for contesting maiden elections, 59 candidates (announced so far) are undergoing rigorous training which includes familiarising themselves with the AAP manifesto. There is also a weekly session where candidates and party heads meet for a closed-door interaction at the party’s office in Connaught Place. Party heads like national Secretary Pankaj Gupta, along with legal experts have been put to the task of chairing the training sessions. “Most of the candidates are not aware of the legal campaigning and advertising. So, apart from providing basic information, the training covers filling of forms and dealing with police officials,” explains AAP candidate Shazia Iilmi. Since most of the candidates are not aware of the dos and don’ts of election commission, the interaction session deals with making candidates aware of the EC norms, says party leader Manish Sisodia. A team of eight lawyers headed by Prashant Bhushan and Somnath Bharti also scrutinise the mock forms filled by candidates. The legal team makes sure all the candidates understand their role as campaigners within the legal framework. “Our weekly sessions have made a lot of difference to the candidates and their understanding. We want to make sure no forms are disqualified so we do mock exercises of filling forms. Our legal team works on polishing their knowledge of AAP’s manifesto,” said Pankaj Gupta, national secretary, AAP. Candidates are also given field training wherein they are told about booth management. To translate crowds into voters, it is important for candidates to ensure that there are dedicated people at the booths. In their field training, the booth committee works candidates to help them assign heads to booths. When asked how is the training provided by AAP different from any other political party, Deshmukh says that AAP candidates are activists who roll up their sleeves and do what is required, i.e. jhaadu lagana. The question, however, remains if all this training will help the party sweep the December polls.