It promises to be the most exciting election battle in the hills in recent times. BJP has entered the fray from many rallies of PM Narendra Modi. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP had a strong start, but lately it has focused most of its attention on Gujarat. The Congress campaign rests on the shoulders of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, but the pace is yet to pick up. News18 Himachal Pradesh visits the state to assess public sentiments and political strategies ahead of the 2022 elections.
With the announcement of elections in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, state leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are set to arrive in the national capital on Sunday night.
Sources said this is the first state core committee meeting to be held outside the state. The meeting on Monday will be followed by a meeting of the Central Election Committee to approve the names of candidates for the upcoming elections.
However, the first one does not end here.
On Sunday, the party asked the post-holders of each of its ranks to cast their votes in favor of candidates they deem fit to contest.
First of all
“This is the first time such voting has taken place. Some people have even given five names. We are a set-up that wants everyone to believe that their suggestion for the candidate was sought and it mattered,” said a senior party leader.
In Shimla affair, the postal holders of the state cast their vote in the party office, writing three names in order of preference from their respective seats.
Read also | Journey to Polling Station Booth at 15,000 Feet to 14 Kms: Election A difficult task remains in Himachal
The party has already embarked on the most challenging task – shortlisting one candidate each from 68 assembly constituencies and preventing losses due to denial of tickets to some.
The list of names that will be considered for the selection of the final candidate will be tallied with the party’s surveys.
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All the top officials present in the party headquarters were monitoring the work given to various committees including election campaign, manifesto and social media along with state president Suresh Kashyap.
Relatively young workers and volunteers can be seen comparing notes and statistics and coordinating with fellow state Uttarakhand post-holders to see what they did and adapt and simulate the strategy for the return.
Kashyap appealed to the post holders to give their recommendations for the candidates.
Read also | Himachal voters have made up their mind to repeat BJP government like in UP, Uttarakhand: PM Modi
“Elections have been announced and soon we will go to polls. Soon our candidates will be announced. BJP is a democratic party based on the organization – all party post-holders be it Mandal, State Unit, Morcha or District Office bearers and our elected representatives of local bodies and corporations. We have organized meetings of four parliamentary constituencies – Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi and Shimla and consulted our workers. These post-holders will exercise their secret ballot and be a part of the process,” Kashyap said.
The box ‘My vote, my candidate’ written on it has been put up in the party office so that everyone can stand for their candidate.
The Election Management Committee also held a meeting with the advocates. The party will have in each district to file an objection or appeal to the Election Commission and provide legal aid to candidates and workers.
defeat the anti-incumbency wave
Senior party leaders are of the view that the election is not going to be an easy one in Himachal as it has a track record of changing the government every five years. The main opposition party Congress is giving a tough fight. “While normally we replace 25% of the existing MLAs to beat the anti-incumbency wave, it is not yet clear how many can be changed this time. The meeting in Delhi will finalize the criteria based on our surveys. We need to change something, also the anti-incumbency wave which was seen earlier is missing this time,” said a senior party leader.
Another senior leader of the party unit, while accepting the greetings of potential candidates for the ticket, said, “The Congress has not gone below 38 per cent at its weakest level and has not gone above 41 per cent on winning the election. It commands so much vote share. We are fighting to make a dent in that vote share to win the election. In the last elections also, BJP got 48 per cent votes.
Sources said that after Prem Kumar Dhumal lost the last election despite the party’s victory, the cautious CM Thakur went to his constituency and held a meeting with ‘rebel workers’ to pacify him.
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