Ahead of counting, BJP calls all candidates to Dharamsala tomorrow

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, December 2

Ahead of the counting for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections on December 8, the BJP has called all 68 candidates for a daylong meeting on Sunday.

The meeting, scheduled to take place in Dharamsala on December 4, will conduct a review of elections, voting, postal ballot trends, learnings, victory prospects of the party and the way forward.

Besides 68 candidates, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, BJP state in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna, co-incharge Sanjay Tandon, BJP national vice-president-in charge of Himachal Saudan Singh, and state party president Suresh Kashyap will attend the Dharamsala meeting.

Sources said that the BJP was not expecting too many rebel candidates to make an impact, except an odd “two or three” possibly winning.

“Very few Independent candidates have the mettle to take the party cadres with them. There were not more than one or two such candidates in the fray,” a BJP leader said, exuding hope of victory on December 8.

The BJP does believe that the elections could go down to the wire and is therefore planning pre-result strategy meetings to prepare ahead and keep post-December 8 strategies ready.

Concrete future plans, including wooing victorious rebels, would depend on the collective feedback of candidates and the outcome of the December 4 meeting, the sources said.

Independent candidates could emerge key players in the event of a close fight in the state. Meanwhile the BJP is hoping for postal ballots to favour their candidates.

“We plan to ask all candidates about the challenges they encountered in the elections, the gaps they identified, the voting trends and their own assessment of each seat,” said the sources. The party is preparing for all eventualities in its bid to script history in the state that has not returned an incumbent government since 1985.

Not expecting rebels to make an impact

• The BJP believes the elections can go down to the wire
• The party is planning pre-result meetings to prepare ahead and keep post-December 8 strategies ready
• The BJP is not expecting too many rebel candidates to make an impact, except an odd “two or three” possibly winning