After Bengal, Tamil Nadu Drubbing, Samajwadi Party Cuts Ties With I-PAC Ahead Of 2027 Assembly Polls
I-PAC, which was founded by poll strategist turned politician Prashant Kishor, was earlier contacted by the Samajwadi Party to help it in constituencies wherever its defeat margin was narrow in the 2022 assembly election.
Lucknow: After a big drubbing in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the Samajwadi Party which is one of the key partners in the opposition INDIA bloc, has now indicated that it will severe its ties with the political consultancy firm, I-PAC for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in 2027.
I-PAC, which was founded by poll strategist turned politician Prashant Kishor, was earlier contacted by the Samajwadi Party to help it in constituencies wherever its defeat margin was narrow in the 2022 assembly election.
Reports indicate that the Akhilesh Yadav-led party will work with Showtime, another election management firm, as per a contract signed two months ago.
What Led Akhilesh To Lose Faith In I-PAC
Apart from the electoral drubbing received by the TMC and the DMK, the two regional parties who had tied up with I-PAC ahead of their respective elections, Vinesh Chandel's arrest might also have played a role. Chandel had co-founded the firm with Kishor. The arrest was related to a money laundering case which was linked to the alleged coal scam in West Bengal.
Chandel was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in April following raids at his property in Delhi. ED had claimed that a 'hawala' operator helped in transferring tens of crores of rupees to Indian PAC Consulting Pvt Ltd, the firm that runs I-PAC. It has also be alleged that I-PAC created a model to launder the black money. Chandel was released on bail recently.
Only Opposition To BJP In UP
The controversy around I-PAC may have made Samajwadi Party careful, especially before the crucial UP assembly elections, where the stakes are high for Akhilesh Yadav, who is widely seen as the only party in the opposition INDIA bloc, to give a strong electoral fight to the BJP.
The series of losses by the Opposition parties in several states, the most recent in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and the AAP's defeat in Delhi in 2025, where all the ruling parties had ties with I-PAC, has led to questions about I-PAC's management capabilites.
In both West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the firm could not come up with any winning strategy for the ruling party; even party bosses Mamata Banerjee and MK Stalin, faced losses from their strongholds Bhabanipur and Kolathur, respectively.
I-PAC Desizing Its Ops
According to some reports, I-PAC had even started to scale back its operations in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu around the final weeks of the campaign, probably after facing pressure from ED. Reports also indicated that the firm has also cut down on team sizes in its UP offices.
Published By : Satyaki Baidya
Published On: 6 May 2026 at 16:21 IST