LUCKNOW: The BJP has chalked out an elaborate formula for ticket distribution for upcoming assembly elections in UP.
According to highly placed sources, the saffron party would deny tickets to at least 150 aspirants, including some sitting MLAs and also those who had lost elections in 2017.
The sources claimed that the sitting MLAs, who remained comparatively inert and inactive both in the organisation and their constituency during the 4.5 years of the tenure of the BJP government, will not be repeated in 2022.
Moreover, the sitting MLAs who did not desist from issuing controversial statements from time to time putting the government and the party in a tight spot, may face the axe this time. Similarly, age will again be a bar. Those who have crossed 70 years of age will not be given tickets in 2022, said a senior BJP leader.
“The party leadership believes that those sitting MLAs who have been under the scanner of public, party men and leaders, should be replaced by new and more dedicated faces,” said a senior BJP leader adding that the party would avoid such candidates who had lost the last elections with a big margin.
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As per the highly placed sources in the state BJP, the party is conducting various surveys at multiple levels simultaneously. While the party’s national president JP Nadda is getting a survey conducted before deciding on the ticket distribution, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and UP CM Yogi Adityanath are also getting a similar exercise done through various agencies to get the pulse of the ground.
Even CM Yogi himself is undertaking a whirlwind tour of different districts of the state to get personal feedback himself.
Significantly, the BJP has set quite a high target of winning 350 seats with 50% vote share for itself in 2022.
“To achieve this target, the party will tread very cautiously. We will treat every seat as our prestige and then ticket will be given to the most suitable candidate,” said Dr Chandra Mohan, a senior party leader.
Elaborating on the strategy laid down for ticket distribution, the sources claimed that for the selection of the candidates, the district chiefs of the party organization have been asked to send three names each for every assembly segment in their jurisdiction. At the same time, regional teams are also working to identify the three most promising probables for each assembly segment.
Then a panel, comprising CM Yogi, party’s state poll in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, party’s UP affairs in-charge Radha Mohan Singh, state BJP chief Swatantra Deo Singh, Deputy CMs Keshav Maurya, and Dr Dinesh Sharma, and organization secretary Sunil Bansal, will finalise three candidates as per their merit for each seat, said the sources.
These names would then be kept before the party’s parliamentary board for final decision. The party sources also confirmed that the views of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) will also be taken into account before reaching on the final decision in ticket distribution. The sources confirmed that Sarkaryawahak of Sangh Datthtreya Hosable and Sah Sarkayarwahak Krishna Gopal has been camping in the state to fortify the ground for the BJPs return in 2022.