BJP picks poll panel heads for 4 states

New responsibility ahead of Lok Sabha contest

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 7

The ruling BJP’s top brass on Friday conducted a marathon review of the preparedness for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the crucial north zone consisting of Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which are due for elections later this year, and others where the party won big in the last General Election.

The seven-hour meeting of 14 states and UTs was chaired by BJP president JP Nadda, who also picked election incharge in poll-bound Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP and Telangana. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi will be the poll incharge for Rajasthan, veteran leader Om Mathur for Chhattisgarh; Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav for MP and Prakash Javadekar for Telangana. Gujarat ex-Deputy CM Nitin Patel and former two-term Lok Sabha MP from Haryana Kuldeep Bishnoi will be co-election incharge for Rajasthan. Union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Ashwani Vaishnaw will handle Chhattisgarh and MP elections, respectively, as co-incharge and BJP general secretary for Telangana Sunil Bansal will be the state poll co-incharge with Javadekar.

At the meeting, where state-wise strengths, weaknesses and future organisational strategy of the party were discussed, Nadda asked leaders “not to be smug as far as voter preferences go”. Sources said the BJP chief had urged aggressive ground outreach with all voters, irrespective of their current electoral preferences.

During discussions on Himachal, it was noted that the party had lost vote percentage despite winning over 70% of votes polled in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2022 Himachal Assembly polls, BJP won 43% of the vote share, behind the Congress’ 43.90%. “All states were asked to break fresh ground; strengthen micro-management at booths; aggressively use social media for outreach and identify new voters,” sources said. The meeting was also attended by BJP general secretary, organisation, BL Santosh apart from presidents of 14 state units, incharges, co-incharges and state general secretaries organisation. CMs were not present as it was an organisational meeting.