Patna: The BJP is determined to add around 30 lakh new members in Bihar, including six lakh Dalits and an equal number of people from the extremely backward castes, as part of its preparations for the coming general election.

"The booth-level committees of our party have been entrusted with the task of adding at least 50 new members each, which should include at least 10 members from the Scheduled Caste community and an equal number from the extremely backward castes (EBC)," a BJP functionary told The Telegraph on Friday.

Bihar has 62,780 polling booths, which means the BJP is aiming to add over 30 lakh members, including six lakh each from the Dalit and EBC categories. At present, the BJP has a total membership of 80 lakh people in Bihar.

The panchayat-level Shakti Kendras, which supervise the functioning of booth level-committees, have been directed to help the booth committees in achieving the target.

The Shakti Kendra in-charges have been directed to appoint Kendra pramukh and deputy pramukhs latest by July 25. "Presence of these office-bearers would help the in-charge of Shakti Kendra execute the work more effectively," said the BJP functionary.

The micro-level work also came up for discussion when BJP national president Amit Shah had a closed door meeting with senior party leaders during his visit to Patna on Thursday. "Strengthening of booth committees was one of the main points discussed during the meeting," said a senior BJP leader.

He said that Shah directed the senior leaders to undertake extensive tours of the state and keep tab on the works being done to strengthen the grassroots organisational structure. The BJP is also planning to organise a conference of its grassroots functionaries in November this year. "Shah is likely to come to address this conference," said the BJP leader.