Sunil Kunugolu, The Poll Strategist Who Shaped the Congress Campaign In Karnataka

Karnataka threw up an expected result with the Congress triumphing the BJP to go on to bag 136 seats.

The Congress managed to counter the BJP's narrative and one person who was instrumental in this was Sunil Kanugolu. He was the poll strategist for the Congress and was hired by the party in March last year. He came up with innovative campaign strategies and was also influential in choosing the candidates.

Many of the candidates chosen by the Congress were based on surveys conducted across constituencies.

After being hired in March last year, Sonia Gandhi named him as a member of the party's 2024 Lok Sabha election task force.

He is absent online but has worked with the DMK and AIADMK in the past.

Kanugolu had earlier worked with poll strategist, Prashant Kishor and was instrumental in the election campaign by Narendra Modi in 2014. He has also served as the head of the BJP's Association of Billion Minds. He also played a key role in the BJP's election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Karnataka. In all these states the BJP had emerged victorious.

Kanugolu is a native of Karnataka but was brought up in Chennai. He also has the credit of planning the Bharat Jodo Yatra, led by Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.

The next role for Kanugolu would be to revive the Congress in Telangana and also retain its governments in Rajasthan and Chattisgarh. While leading the Congress to victory in Madhya Pradesh would also be part of his assignment, the role he would play during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections would also be keenly watched.