The exchange4media group launched a first-of-its-kind initiative with the first-ever 50 Party Spokespersons rankings on April 28th at the India International Centre. Veteran political spokesperson and Member of Parliament Sudhanshu Trivedi was awarded the first place in the list which saw five non-BJP Spokespersons in top 10 – Randeep Singh Surjewala, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Raghav Chadha, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anurag Bhadouria.
Amongst the BJP leaders, Sambit Patra bagged second rank followed by Gaurav Bhatia, Syed Zafar Islam and Shaziya Ilmi.
The winners were selected after a long exhaustive screening process by the editorial board of exchange4media. The selection process was based on the following criteria: quality of argument, uniqueness of points, presentation style, credibility, and visibility.
The awards were preceded by an insightful conference which included fireside chats as well as panel discussions covering topics germane to political discourse in the country as well as dealing with the brickbats and criticism that political spokespeople are often exposed to for their work in the public sphere. Also discussed were the evolving roles of the political spokesperson and the need to discern between cacophony and communication.
All attending spokespeople and dignitaries were highly appreciative of this first-of-its-kind recognition of the men and women involved in political life who serve as the public face of their parties, a job that often comes with more than a fair share of criticism.
Find the complete list of winners below:
