Organisational elections of the Bhartiya Janata Party, which shall start on Sunday, will culminate in the election of a new state party president in January.
Elections will take place to elect new office-bearers in all 1,918 organizational units. While elections at the block level will be done by December 15, the next 15 days will be devoted to electing chiefs of districts. The poor show in the Lok Sabha polls is one reason why elections to overhaul the party structure are taking place now.
One of the major issues that had been flagged in the stocktaking of the Lok Sabha failure was that party workers were unmotivated and felt that they had no say in party issues. At many places, grassroots workers had kept away from the election thus weakening the party’s booth management.
The recent bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, where the party won seven of the nine seats that went to the hustings, are seen as a sign that the corrective measures taken by the party post the Lok Sabha polls have bridged some of the gaps between party workers and the leadership.
The other consideration is the fact that in the recent membership drive organized by the party across the nation, the Uttar Pradesh unit registered 2.5 crore new members - the highest anywhere in the country. It is thus imperative that the party structure be revamped to reflect the aspirations of these new members and also to give out a message that the party listens to its members.
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On November 28, the party held a workshop for those office-bearers who are charged with overseeing the election process.
Later today, the BJP state unit will be holding a meeting of 40 senior leaders where the finer points of the election will be thrashed out. These 40 leaders will also be tasked with overseeing the elections of the district presidents.
Party president Bhupendra Chaudhary recently said that for the BJP, the booth and block-level workers and office-bearers mattered the most. “This is a party where a common worker can become a party president”, he said.