1. Each Political party exists for the benefit of the people and not for itself. Political parties, their
leaders, members are more than ever required now to take care of this responsibility” – “Konrad
Adenaeur”.
Political parties have a responsibility thus to ensure that they contribute whether in Govt. Or running
the state affairs or as a growing party with law makers or just infants in the political ecosystem, to
facilitate in the process of ensuring that all live amicably in the society by themselves organising n
directing their approaches.
Political parties are essentially needed to act as “Principal conduits” for political recruitment,
demand aggregation and control of Govt. (directly or indirectly).
It can said that the current phase of Politics and party system in India, in indeed in crisis from point
of view of its purpose and has lost it direction on account of focus on largely having a “ Electoral
mode “ and “ Cartel-based/ coterie-based” approach. This has resulted in a politics driven by “Image
and “Style” focus than one on “Policies” and “Substance”.
Thus perhaps never before the need to have right mix of “Art “and Science ‘of running a party
system has become the need of the hour. To elaborate this, political parties have to move away from
“Selling”- what they want to tell masses or specific constituencies to “Marketing”- where you build a
product that centres on what the masses want to hear and keep developing it based on the context
and solution seeked.
The message seems to be fairly loud n clear, People demand that the State and parties interface with
the masses whereby they ensure “referendum, understand public mood” by building a vibrant “two-
way interaction” mechanism.
This places on parties the need to have Organizational development agendas/ plans that addressees
the “central party office”,” Party leader office “Parliamentary party”, “Regional/ local leaders office
setups” to the smallest unit office in taluks n villages or wards working in tandem with Outsiders /
adhoc bodies – all ensuring democratic and internal accountability and being proactive and adaptive
to contemporaries and a ever changing environment in the nation.
Not to leave behind a scientific “Performance management “system at every level based on ‘role”
and ‘responsibility” to make it work like a well oiled machine at any point of time.
The following could be a “Illustrative guidelines/ pointers” to keep in mind when looking at a
“TRANSFORMATIVE AGENDA” to change the PARTY’s way of working that is felt by masses and more
importantly by cadres, members and various functional committees:-
1. Fund management / income - internal n external sources including from the state if (in
power).
2. Party leadership office – reflection upon what to be centralised n what to be decentralised in
day to day operations and handling internal issues and strategic management of issues and
tactical management at local level.
3. Professionalism – how is this defined at every level and culture created n sustained

2. 4. Activities- co-ordination n controlled during electoral non-electoral n crisis times
5. Leadership image – Factoring Political, Social-drivers n Technology used as “mechanism” for
reaching out to masses through various channels.
This is to ensure that core strategy around a issue ,actions plans evolved to communicate the party
stand or policy to masses, aspects of programmatic adaptation and more importantly building the
Organisational capacity and capability to provide cadres/ members with – technical know-how,
resources, thematic solutions of party to build a scaleable TWO-WAY communication mechanism.
Some of the challenges involved in creating the right kind of Organogram in the current political
ecosystem stems from the lack of evolution of party systems over last 4-5 decades beyond cosmetic
tinkering, for example “Elections- based approach and top-down culture of running parties” which
largely is out of sync with the “masses/ voter constituencies” engagement demands leading to
cynicism, poor feedback mechanisms at work.
Further, parties are caught up between in constant need to identify between the two principal levers
of “ Mobilization VS Persuasion approach” with respect to audiences which unfortunately results in
lack of strategy n objectives communication even between the “ Party central office”, “
Parliamentary party”, “ party leadership office” and sub-national” right down to local offices.
A possible Role/ responsibility/KRAs matrix of PARTY could be as follows: - (Illustrative)
Type of office/
party unit
Role Responsibilities KRAs Metrics of
performan
ce
Office of “Party
leadership” N “
central Office”
Ideology/
strategy
setting/ party
cultural n
communicati
ons officers...
Policy formulation on
issues n direction
setting n Budgeting n
funds mgmt.at pan
india level
1. Funds
allocation
2. Create strong
local level
leaders
3. Members-
quality n ability
to
communicate
4. Control on
consistent
strategic
communication
of party stance
(proactive n
adaptive)
Office of
“Parliamentary
/State
Assembly/Councill
ors party”
Credible
opposition
officer
Seen my masses as
constructive
opposition, no partisan
politics. Fedback from
MP/ MLA
constituencies
1. Utilisation of
funds allocated
as law maker
representative.
(MPLAD/ MLA
funds) in tenure
2. Interactive
sessions with
constituencies

3. ( seminars
workshops
public
meetings,
members n
cadres
meeting / year)
3. Quarterly
publications
( national n
local MP
constituency)
via various
media
Office of state
unit
Strategy n
Operations
officer
• Dissemination
of central party
office stand on
issues by
adapting it to
local
environment
• Discipline of
cadres/ sub-
leaders
• Funds
mobilisation n
utilisation plans
• No of members
mobilized/
month ( state
level) with
heterogeneous
socio-economic
backgrounds
• Pool of ground
workers vis a vi
members
• Day to day
operations
planning n
execution
Ward office unit Strategy
operations
officer
• Relevant
electoral
database
• Identification
of local issues n
resolution with
councillor
• Communication
officer by
engaging
constructively
with citizens
• No. Of cadres/
members
mobilised
• No of issues
facilitated for
resolution
interfacing with
local public
authorities
Thus the “Organisation” development must be a constant work in progress to facilitate “
proactive, adaptive and predictive to environmental changes” approach that will not only ensure
“day to day’ constructive party development and Organisation capacity and capability
enhancement during non “electoral phase” , but ensure there is better system to work during “
elections” where “Campaign management”, “ right-sizing of male/ women canvassing n
communication teams at work” and role of “ Parliamentary party members and central party
office with state offices” works like a well-oiled machine .

4. The ideal Organisational structure will be a mix of “BRANCH-type(MEMBER- based)” AND
“CAUCUS – Cadre-based decentralised system” for Indian Political system to be relevant to the
context of India.
6.