Lok Sabha Elections 2024: BJP workers go the extra mile in Raebareli

New Delhi: As Raebareli went to the polls on Monday, senior BJP leaders detailed the efforts that went in to try to ensure that it goes the Amethi way.

Separate teams for surveys, voter outreach and digital push, sending senior hands to settle infighting within key party leaders and door-to-door outreach are some of the steps that the party took in its concerted efforts in the pocket Gandhi borough.

Sources in the BJP said that the party sent in a survey team solely for the seat, which had positioned itself there for six months. The job for them was to send in routine feedback every step of the way.

The party had also sent in a key team with senior faces from the IT Cell to turn out narratives and memes centred around Rahul Gandhi, sources said. The party’s on ground infrastructure, including its booth committees and panna pramukhs, have been working on the seat for several weeks, asking for votes through door to door campaigns, a leader involved in the process said.

Under the Raebareli Lok Sabha constituency, there are five assembly segments – Bachhrawan reserved seat, Harchandpur, Rae Bareli, Sareni, Unchahar. In the last elections four of these segments, barring Rae Bareli, were won by the SP; and (then) Congress leader Aditi Singh won Raebareli Singh soon joined the BJP.

Additionally, Unchahar legislator Manoj Pandey has since met union home minister Amit Shah recently, and Shah even visited his home. BJP leaders said that an understanding with Pandey has been reached.

Party leaders also said that Singh and the BJP candidate from the seat, Dinesh Singh, have been political rivals for a while, with both leaders in different parties earlier. In fact, Singh, who was hopeful of a ticket, was seen campaigning hours before the ticket was announced. To stem the infighting, the BJP sent in a senior face to keep them pacified, sources said.

“We have been firing on all cylinders, and there is a real possibility that for the first time after Independence, the Congress might not have a single seat in Uttar Pradesh,” the leader quoted above said.

The leader added that since Sonia Gandhi’s win margin in 2019 from the seat was 1.65 lakh, for them the task is to swing at least 85,000 votes. “We also have new voters in this seat, the win margin, on either side, will be wafer thin,” the leader added.

BJP leaders said that, as per their internal calculations, in 2009 the turnout in Raebareli was 48 per cent, while Sonia Gandhi’s win margin was 55 per cent.

“In 2014, the turnout increased to 51 per cent and the win margin fell to 45 per cent. In 2019, the turnout again increased to 56.3 per cent and the win margin fell to 17 per cent. Initial reports show that the turnout in the seat has increased by 3 per cent this time, so we remain hopeful.”