The Backstage of Democracy: India's Election Campaigns and the People Who Manage Them

This talk explores how this hidden world of professionalised campaigning is transforming power structures, expertise, and public participation in democracy.

Over the last decade, election campaigns in India have undergone a dramatic shift. Political parties increasingly rely on political consultants, spin-doctors, pollsters, and data-driven insights to mobilize voters. What is driving these changes? Drawing upon a recently published monograph, this talk explores the hidden arena of planning and strategizing that takes place between politicians and a new cabal of political professionals as they organize election campaigns in India. It argues that the change in electioneering is not reducible to a story of technological innovations alone. Rather, it is indicative of a new landscape where ideas of political expertise, the distribution of power within parties, and citizens' attitudes towards political participation have undergone a profound change.

About the speaker

Amogh Dhar Sharma is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford. He received his PhD from the University of Oxford, where he has previously taught history and politics of South Asia. His first book, The Backstage of Democracy: India's Election Campaigns and the People Who Manage Them (Cambridge University Press), has been nominated for the New India Foundation's 2025 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Book Prize. Currently, he is working on a project on the rise of opinion polls and psephology in post-independence India.

Please note: due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been rescheduled from 22 October to 21 October 2025, 5:00 PM. The venue has moved to Room S312, Paul Webley Wing, SOAS.

Image credit: Naveed Ahmed via unsplash