Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: All major political parties in the state have intensified their membership drives keeping the panchayat election in mind, which is to be held next year.

Winning a panchayat poll gives parties the required fillip to prepare its ground for the next general elections even though it is not being held on party symbols.

While the BJD and the BJP have already started their initiatives, the Congress today held its office-bearers' meeting and decided to fan out to every nook and corner of the state to highlight failures of the central and state governments. It has also entrusted its leaders with the jobs to look after the party affairs at the panchayat level and asked them to intensify the membership drive.

While the BJD and the BJP have set a target to mobilise their members, the Congress has not set any target claiming that it has members in each village of the state. "Our effort will be to connect people with the party at the booth level. Accordingly, booth-level strategy will be worked out," said Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan. Sources said that prior to the panchayat election, which is due to be over by February 2017, the Congress would organise foot march in three phases in all the 30 districts to connect people at the booth level.

The BJP, which had launched its membership drive last November, claimed that it had already mobilised 37 lakh members. Ranjan Patel, who is in charge of the membership drive, said: "Around 32 lakh people have already enrolled in the party by giving a missed call to the party's toll-free number. Another five lakh members have registered through other methods. Our focus would be to mobilise members at the booth level."

Senior BJP leader and Union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar had launched a toll free number - 18002662020 - in the state for registration of members.

The state has 35,896 booths. Most of the parties find problems in locating the booth-level workers. "The booth-level workers are vital for any political party. They keep tabs on the party's performance at the booth level. A party can only win the election if it is strong at the booth level," said BJP's vice-president Pratap Sarangi.

Realising the importance of the booth-level organisation, the BJD is now focusing on strengthening its base at the grassroots level. "During the nine-day foot march that will begin from October 2, we will connect people at the ground level," said party's spokesperson Pratap Jena.

BJD general secretary Narendra Swain said: "The party has already enrolled 35 lakh members. The membership drive will be further intensified after the party's organisational election is over."

The party envisages to reach 80 lakh families.

The state, according to the Election Commission of India, has 2.91 crore voters. In the 2014 general elections, 2.15 crore people voted.