Kolkata: With less than a year to go before the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, the state BJP, under its new president Samik Bhattacharya, has begun intense consultations and brainstorming to identify and rectify its weak spots. Party insiders said the exercise involves revisiting mistakes made during both the 2021 Assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, while also working on a grassroots-focused revival plan.
A senior BJP leader told The Sunday Guardian, “We are analyzing our performance at the booth level with a fine-tooth comb. We have already realized many of our shortcomings and the new leadership has already started working on them.”
Central to the exercise is the condition of party cadres who maintain direct contact with voters. This week, the BJP held multiple meetings to deliberate on ways to strengthen booth-level workers. The first meeting on Monday was chaired by state in-charge Sunil Bansal and Bengal co-minder and IT Cell chief Amit Malviya.
Discussions revolved around the number of polling booths across the state, which increased from around 80,000 in 2024 to 94,000 in 2026. Leaders emphasized the need for BJP’s presence in each booth, warning that duplication of names across booths—observed earlier—must be eliminated.
To streamline coordination, the party is developing an internal mobile app that will contain booth-level worker details, enabling leaders to cross-check entries and strategize effectively. “This time, no repetition of booth workers will be allowed. Every booth must have a genuine, committed BJP worker,” a senior leader said.
The app will also serve as a repository of documents and allow real-time communication between the party’s ground cadres and leadership.
The emphasis on strengthening booth-level committees comes after Union Home Minister Amit Shah instructed state leaders in a recent Delhi meeting to form committees and select agents for every booth within three months.
BJP leaders are also preparing to assist the Election Commission in implementing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal, anticipating resistance from the ruling Trinamool Congress. “The CM will try to obstruct the SIR. Our job will be to raise awareness and ensure people participate in the process,” a senior leader said.
Interestingly, the BJP has identified a new urban constituency: residents of high-rise apartments in Kolkata, its suburbs, and Durgapur. A survey conducted for the 2026 elections reportedly found significant anti-TMC sentiment among affluent and upper middle-class voters living in these complexes, though turnout from this segment has historically been low.
To tap into this group, the BJP has set up a dedicated “High Rise Committee,” inspired by a similar structure in Mumbai. The committee will assign leaders to constituencies with high-rise clusters, with the explicit aim of mobilizing residents on polling day.
A senior leader explained, “There is a large concentration of non-TMC supporters in high-rises, but they usually don’t vote. By reaching out regularly, we want to make them realize their importance in shaping Bengal’s future.”
Samik Bhattacharya confirmed the move, saying, “We are focusing on every strata of society this time. The affluent do not come out to vote; we will reach out to them and encourage them to vote. We are leaving no stone unturned—every vote counts.”
