Voting is going to be held for the Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana assembly elections. After this, assembly elections will be held in Maharashtra and Jharkhand at the end of this year. BJP has geared up for all these states and has made a special strategy. In the assembly elections, BJP can give tickets to young and new faces from non-political families. PM Modi had made such an appeal recently. In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Modi had emphasized the need to bring new blood into politics to end the politics of casteism and dynasty. Although since 2014, BJP has followed the practice of giving tickets to new faces by removing 30-33% of the existing candidates, but the leaders of the states of Maharashtra and Jharkhand said that now concrete efforts are being made to follow the Prime Minister’s instructions.
A national BJP functionary said, “The Prime Minister’s directive to induct new entrants into the party will be implemented in states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand.” The functionary said that it is likely that old and experienced faces will outnumber young faces in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, where elections are due from September 18. In Jammu and Kashmir, where assembly elections are being held after a decade, the party has not given tickets to old guards like former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta.
Besides, Haryana is going to polls on October 5 and the BJP is facing an anti-incumbency wave after being in power for 10 years. Issues related to caste, reservation and complaints of lack of governance have emerged as a challenge for the BJP. After the alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party broke down, the BJP does not have any strong ally in the state. The BJP leader said that the leadership in Haryana has sought feedback from workers about potential candidates. Surveys and discussions were conducted to prepare a list of the most suitable candidates considering caste equations, age groups and their popularity among different sections. The lists will be announced soon.
The BJP leader indicated that the party is waiting for the opposition alliance to take shape and announce the list of candidates so that it can put up a ‘strong opponent’. The decision to field new faces will help the party deal with the anti-incumbency wave. “Though there is a new CM (Nayab Singh Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar earlier this year), there is resentment on the ground against a group of MLAs,” the leader said. The leader pointed out that in 2019 the party missed out on a majority in the 90-member House and had to rely on the JJP to form the government. “The party was looking for young faces for representation from every caste, Jat, OBC and other communities,” he said.
After the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, assembly elections are due in Maharashtra and Jharkhand later this year. For these two states too, the party is again focusing on identifying and training young leaders. A Maharashtra functionary said, “Our outreach work done through various fronts like Yuva Morcha, Minority and Mahila Morcha helped us connect with people who are professionals, entrepreneurs and even students who have some or very little exposure to politics. Some of these people are now inspired by the development agenda and the Developed India campaign, we will give a platform to some of these people.” Let us tell you that in 2019, the BJP contested 164 out of 288 seats and won 105 (its then ally undivided Shiv Sena contested 126 seats.)