Priyanka’s booth panels to mobilise voters in UP

To be formed for the first time by the youth wing of the party — on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s initiative — the polling booth level committees would create an army of almost 5,000-6,000 workers for Amethi alone.

The four-member committees would together be responsible for votes cast at the 1,580 booths in Amethi.

The process, also on for other constituencies of the state, is expected to be completed in the next few months. Sonia would be visiting Amethi from May 15-17 and would be supervising appointment of these committees. She is also expected to visit Assembly segments, including Gauriganj.

Priyanka had also initiated the formation of a task force for Dalits which would take care of the problems relating to the community. This suggestion was made soon after her last visit to Gajanpur village to help out Dalit families affected in a fire.

The party has already started working on voters’ lists and polling booths in each of the 550 blocks of Amethi. With copies of voters’ lists, these workers will fan out in a relatively compact area ‘‘managing the voters’’.

‘‘The Congress is examining the loopholes that have affected the party’s performance in the past. One of these is the absence of party workers before and during elections,’’ says a UP Congress leader. ‘‘The booth committees would help in building up a rapport with the voters,’’ he adds.

Ahead of the elections, workers of these committees go for door-to-door campaigning, enlist voters, and prevent last-minute conversions. During elections booth workers, who by then can identify their voters, are valuable for checking bogus votes and can be crucial for winning margins.