Congress President Rahul Gandhi appointed Economist Praveen Chakravarty as the head of the party’s ‘Data Analytics’ department. Rahul Gandhi tweeted from his official twitter handle – “Excited to announce a ‘Data Analytics’ dept under the leadership of Praveen Chakravarty to effectively use ‘Big Data’,”

Rahul Gandhi revamped the party’s computer cell as Data Analytics Department and appointed Praveen Chakravarty as its chairman with immediate effect. Praveen Chakravarty is a former investment banker, angel investor and now a political economist. Praveen Chakravarty, was a graduate from BITS, Pilani and Wharton Business School. Praveen Chakravarty quit as Managing Director of BNP Paribas India to work as a volunteer with the central government’s UID project (Aadhaar)under Nandan Nilekani. Chakravarty’s frequent opinion articles in newspapers use data extensively and challenge conventional wisdom. Chakravarty has been appointed to head the analytics division of Congress party and his role would be to leverage big data and steer the party based on insights derived from the data.

Big Data and analytics playing a major role in political campaigning, off late. When Trump won as US president, Cambridge Analytica’s campaign using Big data was attributed a major role in Trump’s success. This company profiled the personality of every adult in the US – 220 million people through a combination of demographics and attitudinal factors, revealed in consumer and lifestyle habits. This personality profiling was used for targeted political marketing through ads on social media platforms. Profiling helps with identifying relevant issues and creating specific ads for citizens. Cambridge Analytica’s work has generated interest in political classes in Switzerland, Germany, Australia and India. Latest step by Rahul Gandhi will also be seen in the same dimension.

We need to wait and see what kind of role analytics will be playing in upcoming 2019 elections.