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Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower names JD(U) as client, reveals location of India offices

Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower names JD(U) as client, reveals location of India offices

Wylie revealed Cambridge Analytica's parent SCL group role in elections in various Indian states. The document names the Janata Dal (United) as one of its clients.

BusinessToday.In
  • New Delhi,
  • Updated Mar 28, 2018 7:00 PM IST
Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower names JD(U) as client, reveals location of India offices

Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower, Christopher Wylie, today shared the details about the political consulting firm's India operations on micro-blogging site Twitter. Wylie revealed Cambridge Analytica's parent SCL group role in elections in various Indian states. The document names the Janata Dal (United) as one of its clients.

"I've been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists, so here are some of SCL's past projects in India. To the most frequently asked  question - yes SCL/CA works in India and has offices there. This is what modern colonialism looks like," Wylie wrote in a tweet.

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One of the pictures shared by Wylie had a list Cambridge Analytica's regional offices in India and its head office in Indirapuram-Ghaziabad. Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) and Cambridge Analytica had regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Ghaziabad, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Patna and Pune.

The document shared by Wylie claimed that SCL India has a database of over 600 districts and 7 lakhs villages, which is constantly being updated. The micro-level information includes household level demographics, specifically focusing on caste data, linked to online mapping applications, it said.

"Our services help clients to identify and target key groups within the population to effectively influence their behaviour to realise a desired outcome. We provide our clients with the research to develop and disseminate the right messages, from the right sources, using the right communication channels," it added.

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Just yesterday, Wylie deposed before a committee of the British Parliament to give his testimony on the data harvesting scandal involving Facebook. Speaking under oath, Wylie had said, "They (Cambridge Analytica) worked extensively in India. They have an office in India... I believe their client was Congress but I know that they have done all kinds of projects. I don't remember a national project but I know regionally. India's so big that one state can be as big as Britain. But they do have offices there, they do have staff."

Cambridge Analytica's alleged role in Indian elections

2012 Uttar Pradesh

In 2012, SCL India carried out a caste census in Uttar Pradesh on behalf of a national party. The research includes analysis of caste structure and dynamics within the state leading to conclusion regarding the identification of the party's core voters as well as likely swing voters.

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2011 Uttar Pradesh

In 2011, SCL India undertook a statewide research campaign to identify voter caste by household. This booth level pooling data formed the basis of further research into swing voter motivation and supporter mobilisation strategies, which were presented to individual candidates and tailored to their constituencies.

2009 National Elections

 
In the 2009 general elections, SCL India managed the campaign of a number of Lok Sabha candidates. The research and campaign teams employed SCL India's proprietary data collections methodologies to form strategies that gave the clients successful election campaigns.

2010 Bihar State Elections

SCL India was asked to provide electoral research and strategy for the 2010 State Elections for the Janata Dal (United). SCL undertook a behavioural research programme targetting over 75% of households to assist the client in not only identifying the correct battlegrounds, but also the right audiences, messages and most importantly the right castes to target with their campaigns.

2007 Uttar Pradesh
 
In the 2007 Uttar Pradesh election, SCL India carried out a full political survey on behalf of a major party. The research included a party audit and statewide census of politically active individuals using in-depth interviews to assess the satisfaction levels of party workers at booth level.

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2007 Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh
 
In 2007, SCL India was asked to undertake a research communication campaign to support a trans-national programmer for countering the Non-Desired Behaviour (NDB) of recruitment into, and support of, violent Jihadism. The project focusses on ancillary populations as opposed to perpetrators of violent Jihadism themselves and required in-depth motivational understanding of the populations of six states.

In 2003, Madhya Pradesh election

 
SCL India carried out a psephological study and opinion polling for a national party to identify swing voters. This was followed with a more in-depth analysis of the behavioural dynamics at work in key seats which in turn informed the party's efforts to ensure to local structure and communication strategy that matched the caste make-up and attitudinal positions of the pre-identified 'swing population'.

In 2003 Rajasthan elections

A major state party contracted SCL India to carry out two pieces of work, one internal and aimed at assessing the party's organisational strength (party audit), the other external and looking at the nature of the voting population, and more particularly, the attitudes and behaviours of politically-active individuals within the state. Both consisted of quantitative surveys followed by qualitative in-depth interviews, the products of which were analysed by using the Behavioural Dynamics methodology, though the subject of the enquiries and the implications for the party's strategic approach were naturally very different. SCL India also assisted the party in understanding how to use the diverse findings.

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Other projects
 
Psephological studies and behavioural polling in Delhi and Chhattisgarh.

Published on: Mar 28, 2018 6:59 PM IST
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