There have been no major protests against the party by ticket seekers.
NEW DELHI: Taking lessons from the last Assembly polls held in 2015 and to avert feud after ticket distribution in Delhi, this time, the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded most of its ground-level workers and cadres in the city elections scheduled to be held on 8 February.
The BJP’s decision of fielding party workers has already shown results, as there have not been any major protests or rebellion against the party by ticket seekers in the Delhi elections. The BJP had witnessed massive protests and infighting due to fielding “outsiders” in the 2015 Assembly polls.
“Based on reports of the rounds of surveys conducted by the party, senior BJP leaders came to the decision of fielding its own cadre and party workers instead of taking candidates from outside. From booth level workers to former legislators and from cooperators to the party’s spokesperson, the BJP has given ticket only to its party workers. The decision was followed in a way that the party even gave ticket to its grassroots level workers like Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga. This time, the BJP has only given ticket to two outsiders—Kapil Mishra and Anil Bajpai,” a BJP insider told The Sunday Guardian.
The decision of giving chance to the party’s own cadre and former legislators has been hailed by the BJP cadre.
Vijay Pandit, who is pitted against Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate Bhawna Gaur on the Palam Assembly seat, told The Sunday Guardian: “I have been working for the BJP for years and I used to distribute pamphlets during the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Delhi. From managing booths to campaigning, I worked only as a hardworking activist and today I have reached this place. I had full faith in the party which promotes hardcore workers in electoral politics and my belief has become stronger after getting a ticket from Palam.”
A similar message was conveyed by Anil Jha, BJP’s candidate from Kirari. “I have been working for the well-being of Kirari’s voters since my college days. I got the chance of representing people in this area twice. The BJP is the only party that gives opportunity to its ground-level workers. I am assured that Kirari’s voters will give me the same love and affection that it had given me in the past,” Jha said.
BJP’s candidate from the Bijwasan Assembly constituency told The Sunday Guardian: “I was assured that my party will field me this time from the constituency I cultivated for years. I am confident that the party’s decision of fielding me from Bijwasan will not go waste.”
Some of the grassroots level cadres who have secured the party’s tickets include Tejinder Singh Bagga and Dharamvir Singh—both have served BJP as the head of booth management wing of the BJP. Another candidate, Sunil Yadav, who is contesting against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, is BJP’s Yuva Morcha president, and Manish Singh (head of Purvanchal Morcha of Delhi BJP), besides others.
The BJP has also given tickets to former two-time party legislators, including Satprakash Rana (Bijwasan), Subhash Sachdeva (Greater Kailash), Pyadhuman Rajput (Dwarka), Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (Badarpur), former Congress MLA SC Vats (Shakur Basti), O.P. Sharma (Vishwas Nagar), Surender Pal Singh Bittu (Timarpur) and Anil Jha (Kirari).
As per political observers, the general mood in Delhi is not very favourable for the BJP, but if the party’s strategy of fielding its ground-level cadres works, it will be difficult for the AAP to repeat the same sweeping victory in capital as in 2015.