Candidates announced, BJP gets battle-ready in Delhi

BJP Delhi unit announces outreach programme centered around 'Modi ki Guarantee' for Lok Sabha election campaign.

With tickets for all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi announced, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi unit has chalked out a massive outreach programme centred around ‘Modi ki Guarantee’, featuring promises — such as the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the implementation of Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the abrogation of the Article 370 — “fulfilled” by the BJP government at the Centre. “While the campaign will focus on ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ in general, the emphasis, in particular, will be on the ‘scams’ of the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government and the Opposition’s I.N.D.I. alliance,” said a BJP source.

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Moreover, each booth worker from the party has been directed to ensure that, beyond the existing voters, they help register at least 370 new voters, include people who have shifted, remove doubtful voters and correct voter card details. Keeping in mind the estimated 80,000 new voters, the party’s first priority will be to reach out to every beneficiary in their respective booths, meet them, get to know their names, and meet their families. Apart from all that, a special campaign centred around ‘Nari Shakti’ is also being designed, said another source.

The party will replicate its ‘Panna Pramukh model’, which helped the BJP register spectacular wins in State and parliamentary polls earlier, in this year’s Lok Sabha election as well. The model allows the party to appoint a panna pramukh or representative for all voters mentioned on each page of the electoral list. This representative will directly engage with the voters. The source added that the party has collected data of approximately 2,00,000 voters from their earlier campaigns which will be used in this election to reach out to key voters who hold considerable influence in their area and can help the BJP by bringing in more voters.

The party has announced fresh faces for six of the seven seats in the national capital, with the only sitting MP, Manoj Tiwari, being retained in North East Delhi. The rest of the list is a mix of veteran faces and newbies, including the late Sushma Swaraj’s daughter Bansuri Swaraj, who will be making her electoral debut from the New Delhi seat. Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly and Tughlakabad MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri will contest from South Delhi, while Confederation of All India Traders secretary general Praveen Khandelwal has been named as the Chandni Chowk candidate. Three former Mayors of Delhi – Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Harsh Malhotra, and Yogendra Chandolia have been fielded from West Delhi, East Delhi and North West Delhi respectively.

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