Political Pantheons: Hierarchy, Proximity and Power in Political Posters and Hoardings

The Indian political visual landscape is littered with large and small posters/ hoardings/boards of political wannabes and local level ‘politicians’. These aspirants try to project themselves as not just belonging to a particular political party but also as part of the mandala or pantheon of heavyweight or rather heavier leaders than the person creating the posters through which the relatively less significant players attempt at basking in reflected glory of the more important leaders. While there has been a shift towards more digital means of projection,1 the posters continue to proliferate.