Winning Election Without Party: Road Map for Political Parties to Build Better Platforms.

Political elections remain driving force for any democracy. Many win and many more lose in the elections. But there is no formula arrived to predict success or failure. Behavioural science is yet to decode the complexity of voting behaviour. Still winning and losing continue with unexpected success and failures. 

In the current study the author has attempted to understand the psychological dynamics evident in the victory of an independent candidate at R K Nagar Bye Election in December, 2017. 

This election is significant due to different reasons, the chief one being ‘an independent 

candidate demonstrated sweeping victory beside forcing an established party’s candidate to lose his deposit.

Significance of a party as a platform is challenged. Thus analysis of this election and current paper are directly linked to the topic and purpose of this conference. 

The strategic behaviours of the important contestants is analyzed from psychological angle. Such an analysis would help (1) what people expect and, (2) how parties or candidates should form their strategies. 

Current author could trace the core factors that help to win without a party and without an established symbol. 

‘Party’ as such remains a platform in support of candidates. Parties have a strong incentive to aggregate votes through formation of alliances, by sharing the total number of contested seats, so as not to split but to pool votes. This is because a small addition of votes has the potential to hugely increase or alternatively decimate a party or coalition in terms of seats. (Sridharan .E. ,2004). Significance of party as a platform suggested by others too (Lodha , Sanjay.2004).

However, Human behaviour is complex.