A Snapshot of a Successful Public Relations Strategy

Abstract

Legislative elections are held in India every 5 years; and in 2004, the election was held in four phases between April 20 and May 10. More than 670 million people were eligible to vote, electing 543 members of the 14th Lok Sabha and seven state legislatures. This case study is a chronological outline of the public relations activities that a politician, Raghuveera Reddy, undertook in his quest for a seat in the legislative assembly during the general election of 2004. He was successfully elected and is currently the minister for agriculture in the government of Andhra Pradesh. A deep analysis reveals that in India, like in any other part of the world, playing on people’s emotions and invoking the caste factor plays a significant role in electoral success.