Lucknow, Feb. 27 -- After Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party is the third major regional force that has sought the services of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), a political consultancy, in its electoral fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. I-PAC, founded by Prashant Kishor who has now stepped away from the organisation and taken an unsuccessful political plunge with his Jan Suraaj Party in Bihar, will help not only with booth-level surveys but also with formulating strategy and selecting the right ground issues, party insiders said. People familiar with the matter indicate the SP is ready to spend a huge amount of money on the entire exercise. The SP has already enlisted I-PAC to conduct a booth-level survey ahead of the elections to strategise for 2027 at a micro-level. However, people privy to the issue indicate that multiple firms, including a multinational consulting firm besides I-PAC, could be involved in the mammoth exercise. When asked whether I-PAC was involved in any survey for the Samajwadi Party, SP national vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda said, "I-PAC is conducting a booth-level survey for the Samajwadi Party. I have no idea about the cost involved. Our party is very strong in all the booths across the state. I-PAC conducted this survey solely to supervise operations and further strengthen the booths." "Most of our booths have been strong since 2022. Preparations at the booth level are already complete. Supervision is only needed for the booth-level organisation because each and every booth is important for the Samajwadi Party in this election," he said. Sources within the party suggest that I-PAC was suggested to Akhilesh Yadav by Mamata Banerjee. I-PAC worked for Narendra Modi (BJP) in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Nitish Kumar (JDU) in the 2015 Bihar assembly elections, Captain Amarinder Singh (Congress) in the 2017 Punjab assembly elections, Jagan Mohan Reddy (YSRCP) in the 2019 Andhra Pradesh elections, Arvind Kejriwal (AAP) in the 2020 and 2025 Delhi elections, MK Stalin (DMK) in the 2021 Tamil Nadu elections, and Mamata Banerjee (TMC) in the 2021 West Bengal elections. I-PAC specialises in election campaign management, data-driven strategies, grassroots mobilization, digital and media campaigns, voter analytics, and policy influence. According to the I-PAC website, "Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) is the platform of choice for students and young professionals to participate in and make meaningful contribution to political affairs and governance of the country, without necessa- rily being part of a political party." Regarding the declaration of candidates for the 2027 assembly, Nanda said, "We have already decided that our national president Akhilesh Yadav will make the final call for candidates in all the constituencies. We will announce the candidates as early as possible to give them more time to campaign, our main aim is to defeat the BJP." People familiar with the matter have confirmed that the party may announce candidates before the end of 2026. Nanda also stated that booth-level workers were working to guard against any discrepancy in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. "The BJP is already trying to manipulate the voter list through the Election Commission," Nanda claimed....