India, Feb. 21 -- Political/electoral consultants or managers in India are now a well-known and widespread tribe. How should we look at their rise? Is it a reflection of India's elections, and more importantly, politics becoming more modern? Is it leading to a weakening of party organisations? What about its impact on core ideology of parties? A book published by Amogh Dhar Sharma, a young political scientist at Oxford University, has made an excellent attempt to answer some of these questions. This author was invited to a panel discussion on the book this week and today's column is a result of reflections on the larger political economy around the risk of electoral consultants.

Sharma's book, The Backstage of Democracy: India's Election...