NEW DELHI: With just six months left for the Delhi municipal elections, the BJP will go for a micro-level public outreach to overcome anti-incumbency and to expand its support base. The party will set up ‘page committees’ at every booth to remain in touch with a group of about 12 families so that they can regularly be informed about plans and developments related to the MCD polls. They will further convey that information to other voters in their neighbourhood.
“We have already started ground activities. I have been conducting ‘pravas’ (interacting with workers) in districts. Efforts are being made to increase the number of NaMo app users. We have also started forming page committees at booths to reach out to every single voter,” said BJP state chief Adesh Kumar Gupta.
Each page panel, led by a convener (booth level worker), will comprise one member of the family. The convener will be the party’s first point of contact with voters at booth level.
“There are over 13,000 polling booths in Delhi. If we manage to form page committees at every booth, there should be about 2.5 lakh such panels. This figure looks encouraging on papers and can ensure greater penetration at the booth-level to boost our chances in the elections. We are hopeful to implement this at least 5,000-6,000 booths,” said a senior party functionary.
BJP general secretary Harshdeep Malhotra said the arrangement would help to establish a robust channel for regular communication with the party supporters and sympathizers. “The in charge of the page committee will be interacting regularly with our supporters and taking care of their families.
Through the panels, the BJP will engage voters and hold a series of dialogues with them to garner support. Voters can also give feedback so that the party can improve,” said Malhotra, who is also supervising formation of page committees. The party has also resumed verification of grassroot-level workers, selected in each booth, to ramp up support for the party.