BJP eyes broader voter base in Dera Baba Nanak

Even as the Congress and AAP are moving ahead full throttle, BJP’s local satraps have no qualms in admitting that their party was contesting the bypoll not for the top slot but with the sole intention of improving its voter base.

The leadership is aware of the fact that its candidate Kuldeep Singh managed just 1,840 votes in the 2022 Assembly poll, which was just 1.33% of the total votes polled. In the Lok Sabha elections, Dinesh Babbu did an encore. “We are not seeing a mirage. We know that we are not in a position to win. It is better to use these polls as a stage to enhance our appeal and subsequently increase our voter base, which is almost negligible,” said a senior leader.

The party is trying to use the ‘drone-drug’ issue to make sure its reputation does not nosedive any further. Such is the gloom that no leader worth his salt was willing to contest. The leadership had to force SAD-defector Ravi Karan Kahlon to take the plunge. In the 2022 elections, Kahlon had contested on a SAD ticket, lost but polled an impressive 52,089 votes.