Conditions apply, BJP tells R'than panchayat aspirants

Makes it must to recruit 100 new members for party ticket

Upbeat over its performance in the previous elections, the ruling BJP in Rajasthan continues to experiment with poll strategy for the Panchayati Raj elections. The party has now made it mandatory for the workers to recruit at least 100 members to be eligible for its ticket.

On the contrary, the Congress is back to square one and banking on traditional methods. After losing all the previous polls, the Panchayati Raj elections are of extreme significance for the party as this will be the last polls in the state before the next Assembly election due in December 2018.

“Adding at least 100 new members has become the minimum eligibility criterion to get the party ticket,” said a state BJP office-bearer.

“The party has issued directives even to the office-bearers from the state to divisional-level, stating they will have to relinquish their posts if they fail to achieve the target under the BJP’s nationwide membership drive,” the office-bearer added.

All the ticket aspirants now seem to have taken up the task seriously. Previously, the aspirants were seen meeting MPs, MLAs and RSS office-bearers to ensure the ticket. But now they are knocking at the voters’ doors to offer them the party membership.

“They may not give us ticket even after making 100 members for the party. But they will surely disqualify candidates who do not achieve the target. So this has become basic eligibility for us to get the ticket,” said Om Prakash Rajoria, a ticket aspirant.

In the Congress, district-wise observers will interview and collect the bio-data of the ticket aspirants from each district.

These observers will shortlist the candidates and after discussions with the local leaders, a panel of three candidates will be prepared. The ticket will be given to one of the candidates in the panel. Later these observers and district in-charge will look after the election management for the party.

No riders
This time the party has not introduced any riders like preference to youth, education qualification or denying ticket to those who lost previous polls.

The leaders are now saying that winnable candidates will be given ticket.

While Sachin Pilot has already started holding the election rallies in different districts, the local leaders are clueless especially after the public mandate in previous last elections, which was completely opposite to their expectation.