Indians learn lessons about US elections

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Eight political professionals from “the Ohio of India” are working at campaign offices in the American bellwether state as part of an international fellowship program.

They’re all University of Akron International Campaign Fellows, participating in a new program that allows students to swap campaign lessons with the political battleground.

“Indians have a lot of interest in U.S. elections, and I think the entire world has a lot of interest,” said Pankhuri Pathak, a fellow who works as spokeswoman for India’s 24-year-old Samajwadi Party. “Over here, campaigning techniques are more sophisticated, more advanced. So we thought maybe we could learn something from here and apply it back home.”

The fellows are high-ranking professionals in their home country – political scientists, communications specialists and strategists from India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh.

Unlike Ohio, U.P. sends more legislators to the national governing body, Parliament, than any other state. But like Ohio, it has huge sway over which party wins a national majority and gets to influence who becomes prime minister.

“We call it ‘the Ohio of India’ because you can’t win an election in India without winning U.P.,” said Hari Kasula, the program’s deputy director.

Groups from Liberia and Brazil arrive later this month.

No Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio, and the last Democrat to do so was John F. Kennedy in 1960. The state is an attractive laboratory for these political observers because of its compact mix of big cities, suburbs, mountains and farms that attract almost nonstop presidential stops in election years.