Union home minister Amit Shah has asked the BJP leadership to focus extensively on grassroots organisation by ensuring that booths remain strong during the election phases.
BJP sources said that apart from releasing the chargesheet against the Mamata Banerjee government in Calcutta on Saturday, Shah, during an internal meeting with top leaders, made it clear that there should be a robust team at the booth level that would play an integral role in ensuring that all possible votes are cast in favour of the party.
“Amit Shah ji asked leaders to revisit the party’s strength at the booth level through Shakti Kendra leaders. The special focus is to ensure that booths remain strong till election day,” said a senior BJP leader.
Shah had come to Calcutta on Friday night and left Calcutta on Saturday evening.
During his news meet, Shah appeared confident about winning the Bengal polls.
A source said the party has already rectified its faults, learning lessons from earlier polls.
The source added that at least a year ago, when the BJP began gearing up for the Bengal Assembly polls, it focused on strengthening its booth-level organisation. Top leaders found that one of the reasons the BJP had lagged behind Trinamool was a scattered and weak booth-level
organisation.
Despite securing a base vote share of around 40 per cent, the BJP’s “inefficient” grassroots leadership failed to convert vote share
into victories.
“Booths have been strengthened over the past year. However, Amit Shah ji considers revisiting their status important. He has assigned two top leaders — Union minister and Bengal election in charge Bhupender Yadav and Bengal minder Sunil Bansal — for this task,” the leader added.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, the BJP won 77 seats. Though in the 2024 general elections the party secured only 12 Lok Sabha seats, it was ahead of Trinamool in 90 Assembly segments out of 294. The party now wants to focus on those 90 segments to ensure that not a single one slips out of its grasp.
In 2021, there were seven constituencies where the victory margin was less than 1,000 votes, and the BJP secured four of them. Now, the party aims to win all such closely contested seats. There are also 13 seats where BJP candidates lost to Trinamool by margins of less than 5,000 votes. Party leaders believe that with robust booth management, they can win those seats in this election.
On the other hand, BJP’s top leadership senses a significant consolidation of Hindu votes across Bengal following a campaign on infiltration and alleged oppression of Hindus after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh in August 2024.
There are 49 Assembly constituencies in the state where Hindu voters constitute over 90 per cent. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the party secured only 22 of those seats.
“This time, the party is focusing on all those seats, as there is a strong possibility that the BJP can win most of them. Even in strong seats, booth management will be crucial,” said a senior Bengal leader. “So, booths will play the primary role in ensuring the party comes to power.”
Suvendu nomination
The BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari will file his nomination papers for the Nandigram seat on Monday. Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and former state president Dilip Ghosh will accompany him on this occasion in Haldia. Nandigram apart, he is also contesting from Bhabanipur against Mamata Banerjee. BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya on Sunday officially handed him the party symbol for both seats.
Kamduni’s Tumpa
Tumpa Koyal, a face of the Kamduni movement that began following the gang rape and murder of a college student in 2013, joined the BJP on Sunday in the presence of the party’s state general secretary Locket Chatterjee. Party sources said she might contest from a seat in North 24-Parganas. The BJP is yet to announce candidates for 19 out of 294 seats.
