BJP gets members, hopes to earn votes next

The BJP, which is in an expansionist mode after its emphatic Lok Sabha win, has made organisational inroads in the Congress fortress of Bidar and the JD(S) bastion Mandya if the saffron party's membership drive is any indicator.

The number of registered BJP members has now exceeded one crore of whom 32.71 lakh were enlisted between August 2 and September 10.

In Bidar, where the Congress has four MLAs out of the six Assembly segments, two lakh people have registered with the saffron party, followed by Davanagere district where registrations have touched 1.67 lakh. Similarly, in Ballari district, where six of the eight MLAs are from Congress, the saffron party has enrolled 1.46 lakh people.

In Mandya district where JD(S) swept all the seven seats in 2018 Assembly polls, the political transformation of the electorate during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that saw the defeat of the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil, helped the BJP register 1.38 lakh new members.

The membership registration fee per person was Rs 100 and was based on their mobile numbers. If one were to register again using the same number, a system-generated message would alert the user of his existing membership.

BJP general secretary N Ravikumar, who anchored the membership drive told DH that the party's appeal in the Vokkaliga heartland had surged following Lok Sabha polls. "Apart from Mandya, registrations in Hassan, Tumakuru and Chamarajanagara have been very encouraging," he said.

To convert these numbers into votes, the BJP will pick two "active" members who will be responsible for holding booth-level meetings comprising at least 30 people. "The members will have to organise BJP activists and hold regular meeting with voters of a booth," Ravikumar said.

This, according to him, is part of the BJP's poll-preparation effort. "This is irrespective of the fact that the B S Yediyurappa government will be safe for the next three years," he added.

However, the party faced a challenge in enrolling minorities. Ravikumar said the BJP managed to register only about 35,000-40,000 minorities against a target of 5 lakh.

Unlike phone call-based registrations previously, all registrations this time were physical. People interested to enrol had to provide information such as their address and phone number, which will become a crucial database the party can bank on during an election.