BJP to reach out to voters in 166 seats it lost in 2014

The outreach programme, which began on April 6, will last till April 14, which is the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.

As part of its week-long voter outreach programme, the state BJP has decided to focus on the 166 constituencies it lost in the 2014 Assembly elections. A party source said the BJP has embarked on a campaign to take the Centre-state’s policies and programmes to the people, and its cadre has been directed to focus on areas where the lotus failed to bloom the last state polls.

Party MLAs, MLCs, MPs, ministers and office bearers, however, have been entrusted with the job of connecting with voters across the 288 Assembly constituencies. In the 2014 state elections, the BJP won 122 seats. The Shiv Sena with 63 seats was the second largest party, with the Congress winning 42 seats, the NCP 41, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi 3, Peasant Workers Party 3, MIM 2, Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh 1, CPI (M) 1, Samajwadi Party 1, Rashtriya Samaj Party 1, and Independents 7 seats.

While the Sena-BJP came together to form the government, it has been an uneasy alliance, and the BJP believes it should be prepared for all eventualities, a senior party member said. While none of the opposition parties are prepared for mid-term elections, the BJP’s top leadership thinks this the right time to consolidate its electoral gains in the recent local bodies’ polls.

A highly placed source in the party told The Indian Express, “Every political party has its own expansion plans. We are definitely going to focus on the areas where we are weak or have no presence. The BJP, being the leading ruling party, cannot ignore the 166 Assembly seats where it failed to win in the last elections.”

The outreach programme, which began on April 6, will last till April 14, which is the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar. Under it, the BJP will connect to 40,000 villages, highlighting the measures it has taken in the fields of agriculture, irrigation, skill development, tribal welfare and social justice, which also covers health and education for the poor. Its show-piece schemes are housing for all, Jalyukta Shivar, digitalisation of 28,000 gram panchayats, among others.

The BJP’s campaign comes close after the Congress-NCP’s recent Sangharsh Yatra to demand crop loan waiver for farmers in Maharashtra. A senior party functionary said, “Our agenda is to connect to people and take to them the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. It is not aimed at countering the Congress-NCP’s campaign.”

Although the BJP emerged as the number one party in the recently held elections to 10 municipal corporations, 25
zilla parishads and 284 panchayat samitis in Maharashtra, the party reckons it has challenges ahead.
A party source said, “The BJP’s vote share in the last elections was 30 per cent, which means there is scope to make inroads in the remaining 70 per cent.” The Congress’s vote share was 18 per cent , NCP 17.7 per cent, and the Shiv Sena 17.3 per cent.

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