It is a political and campaign management team - what did you expect? You'll write academic articles on "Exploring the legal contours of Pradhan Mantri Farak Nahi Padta Abhiyaan"?
Plus, your post is clearly fake given "your friend" says he posted messages for "DMK/TMC/Amarinder". Firstly, IPAC has state wise postings. The West Bengal and Tamil Nadu teams were totally separate parallel teams and nobody worked for both. IPAC hasn't even done any proper work in Punjab and has already exited the state. Thirdly, during elections nobody works 9 to 5 in IPAC. It's a day and night job with no leave. (post which you get an extended 2-3 weeks full leave).
So no. You're confusing IPAC with the IT cells of BJP. Election management is a professional service and IPAC is just the beginning of such organizations in India. Check out similar campaign management organizations in the US and you'll understand the future of this industry in India.
I interviewed for I-PAC around March 2018 and was selected. It was recommended to me by an acquaintance who was working there at the time (a tier 1 alumnus). I eventually didn't take up the offer,. Below is my take on the organization and the space:
1. It's purely a for hire political consultancy. So whichever party has hired them, you are expected to do that party's bidding and the role could involve even door to door campaigning, distribution of pamphlets, etc. At the time they were gearing up for the AP elections and were hired by Jagan Mohan Reddy (and were operating out of a premise donated by him in Hyderabad);
2. It's not something you can do for a long time. Political consultancy is not a thing in India unlike the US, so there's no certainty that such organization(s) would even survive. Politics in India is very much still a caste/ religion based swansong and political parties understand that they don't need I-PAC's inputs to play the caste card. Prashant Kishore understood this as well and hence entered mainstream politics as a politician;
3. The money isn't great (atleast it wasn't in Mar 2018). I was being offered about 60 k, which is decent considering what you'd be doing, but wasn't enough for me to consider relocating from Delhi to Hyd from a financial standpoint;
4. This flows from the above points. Since I-PAC takes up assignments wherever and whenever they're needed, you shall be required to move states/ cities/ places, etc. I requested for Delhi as my base (as was promised in their ad when I interviewed), but was refused since they needed all hands on desk in Andhra at the time.
5. There are educated, talented, ambitious people in the organization. I was interviewed by an extremely smart NLIU Bhopal alumnus who was one of the early joiners. There are people who have previously worked in tech companies, VCs, tier 1 law firms, etc. Hence in case you join, you'll be surrounded by smart, intelligent people (with a tinge of political ambition).
I know someone who worked here for a few months, in between jobs. He was promised "policy work" but instead had to post pro-TMC/DMK/Amarinder messages from 9 to 5 on social media, plus propaganda against Modi, e.g. "Modi sells railways to Adani, Taj Mahal next". The pay was good though (nearly 1 lakh a month), courtesy the Indian taxpayer.
So take the job if you value money over intellectual stimulation and self-respect. Else join a place like CSDS, ORF, CPR, Vidhi etc.
Plus, your post is clearly fake given "your friend" says he posted messages for "DMK/TMC/Amarinder". Firstly, IPAC has state wise postings. The West Bengal and Tamil Nadu teams were totally separate parallel teams and nobody worked for both. IPAC hasn't even done any proper work in Punjab and has already exited the state. Thirdly, during elections nobody works 9 to 5 in IPAC. It's a day and night job with no leave. (post which you get an extended 2-3 weeks full leave).
So no. You're confusing IPAC with the IT cells of BJP. Election management is a professional service and IPAC is just the beginning of such organizations in India. Check out similar campaign management organizations in the US and you'll understand the future of this industry in India.
1. It's purely a for hire political consultancy. So whichever party has hired them, you are expected to do that party's bidding and the role could involve even door to door campaigning, distribution of pamphlets, etc. At the time they were gearing up for the AP elections and were hired by Jagan Mohan Reddy (and were operating out of a premise donated by him in Hyderabad);
2. It's not something you can do for a long time. Political consultancy is not a thing in India unlike the US, so there's no certainty that such organization(s) would even survive. Politics in India is very much still a caste/ religion based swansong and political parties understand that they don't need I-PAC's inputs to play the caste card. Prashant Kishore understood this as well and hence entered mainstream politics as a politician;
3. The money isn't great (atleast it wasn't in Mar 2018). I was being offered about 60 k, which is decent considering what you'd be doing, but wasn't enough for me to consider relocating from Delhi to Hyd from a financial standpoint;
4. This flows from the above points. Since I-PAC takes up assignments wherever and whenever they're needed, you shall be required to move states/ cities/ places, etc. I requested for Delhi as my base (as was promised in their ad when I interviewed), but was refused since they needed all hands on desk in Andhra at the time.
5. There are educated, talented, ambitious people in the organization. I was interviewed by an extremely smart NLIU Bhopal alumnus who was one of the early joiners. There are people who have previously worked in tech companies, VCs, tier 1 law firms, etc. Hence in case you join, you'll be surrounded by smart, intelligent people (with a tinge of political ambition).
So take the job if you value money over intellectual stimulation and self-respect. Else join a place like CSDS, ORF, CPR, Vidhi etc.
I thought this would be a good option to experiment outside tier 1 law firms.