According to reports, the BJP has identified 125 “vulnerable” constituencies in Madhya Pradesh and 27 in Chhattisgarh, where the party is in a “weaker position”.
New Delhi: The BJP’s Central Election Committee on Wednesday reviewed the party’s poll preparations in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, with particular focus on seats where it is vulnerable, in a meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the leaders of BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC). According to reports, the BJP has identified 125 “vulnerable” constituencies in Madhya Pradesh and 27 in Chhattisgarh, where the party is in a “weaker position” and divided these seats into four categories — A, B, C and D — on the basis of the probability of victory in Assembly elections.
The seats on which the party has a higher chance to win or is in a fight have been placed under A and B categories. Whereas in the C and D categories, those seats have been included where the party has won the previous election with a very small margin or where it has never won an election.
The party is considering the seats included in C and D categories as a challenge for itself and the CEC meeting was called to prepare a strategy to win the elections on these “weak seats”.
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram — are expected to go to the polls in November-December. The BJP is in power in only Madhya Pradesh and is running an intense campaign to oust the Congress government in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the BRS in Telangana.
In the 2018 polls, the BJP lost power in both Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh but succeeded in toppling the Congress government in the latter. It had won only 15 of the 90 seats in the Chhattisgarh assembly against 68 of the Congress while its tally of seats was 109 against 114 of the Congress in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly.
Of 125 weak seats in Madhya Pradesh, 103 are those on which the BJP lost in the 2018 Assembly elections while the remaining 22 are those, where the party’s victory margin was very small.
Similarly, of 27 weak seats in Chhattisgarh, five are those on which the BJP has never won while the remaining 22 are those, where the party’s victory margin was very small.
In the meetings, leaders discussed the issues which are more effective in these weak seats and can be raised at the local level to make a strong connection with the voters.
Sources said that the party could finalise probable candidates on these weak seats soon, and would instruct them to get involved in the field with the help of senior leaders.
The CEC meetings, chaired by party President J.P. Nadda, were attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and BJP National General Secretary (Organization) B.L. Santhosh, among others.
Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav, who is the party’s state election in-charge of Madhya Pradesh and Om Prakash Mathur, the party’s in-charge of Chhattisgarh were also present in meetings related to their respective states.
In general, the party’s CEC meeting is called to discuss the names of the probable candidates for the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Such meetings are usually called only after the election dates are announced by the Election Commission. However, sources said that the party is in no mood to take any risk in poll-bound states and this was the reason why CEC meetings were organised before the formal announcement of elections.
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