The BJP’s vote share in Delhi has remained between 30-35% in the last two decades.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Delhi has set a mammoth task to double its strength in three weeks with an eye on the ensuing Assembly polls. The Delhi BJP has set the target of enrolling 14 lakh new members with the party which currently has 14.5 lakh members.
The BJP, whose vote share in Delhi has remained between 30-35% over the last two decades, plans to increase its vote share by 15-20% in Assembly polls scheduled for January-February next year. However, the buzz in the political circles in that elections in Delhi could be preponed to October-November this year.
BJP president Amit Shah and acting party president J.P. Nadda have instructed the state unit to increase BJP’s vote share up to 55% in order to form the next government in the national capital. The BJP’s stupendous victory on seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi with over 56% votes has raised great hopes for the party which is out of power in the state for the last 21 years. With the incumbent AAP sliding down to the third position and the Congress seeking to revive itself, BJP leaders see better poll prospects that ever before in the Delhi Assembly elections.
As part of the nationwide membership drive initiated by the BJP, the state unit has also all its “panch parmeshwars” (booth level workers) to enroll minimum 50 new members each from their respective polling booths. The party has also planned mass enrollment campaign by roping in its star campaigners and celebrity leaders like Gautam Gambhir, Manoj Tiwari and Hans Raj Hans at public places like railway and Metro stations, bus stands and other places to directly reach out to new members.
Before the 2017 municipal polls, the Delhi BJP had appointed five “panch parmeshwar” at each of the 13,816 polling booths in the national capital. In total, the Delhi BJP has about 58,000 panch parmeshwars. Co-covenor of Delhi BJP membership drive, Harsh Malhotra said one “panch parmeshwar”
will enroll at least 50 new members at their respective polling booths. “At each polling booth, 250 new members will be enrolled and in the next 35 days these 58,000 panch parmeshwars will help the party achieve the target,” Malhotra said.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said that the membership drive in Delhi will be different from other states where the party aims to
increase the members’ strength by 20%.
“The membership drive in Delhi is different as we will be working to enroll around 14 lakh new members which is more than the 20% target set for other states,” Tiwari told The Sunday Guardian.
In a recent meeting, the party leadership decided to revise the target of enrolling new members. The workers have been told to make 14 lakh new members.
In the meeting, BJP national general secretary (orgnaisation) Ramlal told workers to double the membership count.