BJP asks state units to have functional election offices in all 543 Lok Sabha seats by Feb end

The party has also asked leaders to finish its poll-centric campaigns like 'Viksit Bharat' and 'Gaon Chalo Abhiyaan' by the end of February so that they are prepared before the polls are announced.

New Delhi: The BJP has asked its state units to have election offices in all the 543 Lok Sabha seats to be functional by the end of this month, party leaders said. Most of the election in-charges of these offices will attend the party’s two-day convention on February 17-18 at the Bharat Mandapam, where the party’s National Council will convene. In all, 10,000 leaders are expected to attend the function.

Election committees of each state will be attending the Council meet, where the party’s central leadership will take a final look at the preparations. State unit leaders have also been asked to ensure each assembly segment has a functional election office soon.

Sources in the party said that leaders were instructed to finish two of their main campaigns – Parliament cluster programme and the programme of booth strengthening in the 160 weak seats – by the beginning of the year.

“In each of the 160 seats (where the BJP is weak), the job was to have a functional committee in each booth, which is now done,” a general secretary of the party said.

The BJP had earlier chalked out 144 seats where it has been weak, raising it to 160 seats later. A key organisational leader of the party from South India said that of these 160 seats, 84 of these seats are from South India, where the party has not won ever. Other seats where the party has never won are in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana.

Under the cluster system, launched in July last year, the BJP had divided the country along three zones, each with a cluster of 10-12 states. As per the system, known as the Micro Booth Management Blueprint, the party had divided all the 543 Lok Sabha seats in three clusters – North, South and East. All the North Indian and Western states are part of the North cluster, while Northeastern states, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal are part of the East cluster.

The party had also asked leaders to finish its poll-centred campaigns like Viksit Bharat and Gaon Chalo Abhiyaan by the end of February so that they are prepared before the polls are announced.