KOLKATA: Eyeing the Lok Sabha elections slated to be held next year, the BJP on Tuesday constituted a 15-member election management committee for West Bengal. The committee was formed during a core committee meeting of the BJP’s Bengal unit in Kolkata, which was chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah and the party’s national president JP Nadda, according to party sources.
The two BJP heavyweights came to Kolkata on their two-day visit on Monday. Four members of the election management committee are the BJP’s central observers for Bengal. They are Sunil Bansal, Amit Malviya, Asha Lakra and Mangal Pandey.
The other members in the committee include former national president Dilip Ghosh, West Bengal chapter head Sukanta Majumdar, former state president Rahul Sinha, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, among others.
“The election management committee will be responsible for all election related activities in West Bengal, including finalising the schedule of campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” the sources said. Shah and Nadda held a meeting with those who look after party’s social media cell. “It is clear that the party will launch aggressive campaign using the digital platforms in this election,” said a BJP leader, pleading anonymity, in Kolkata.
The sources said the committee has been tasked to prepare the initial list of probable candidates who can be fielded in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll fray. “Based on the list provided by the committee, the party’s central leadership will prepare the final list of candidates,” said the leader. Insiders in the saffron camp said that the leadership has asked the committee to rope in both celebrity and political faces in the list of probable candidates.
Both Shah and Nadda stressed that the party needed to secure more than 35 Lok Sabha seats from Bengal, according to a leader present at the meeting. “Amit Shah ji and Nadda ji asked us to start preparedness for the elections in full swing,” said another BJP leader. Shah and Nadda went to the gurdwara at Jorasanko in north Kolkata and Kalighat temple located near Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence.
Trinamool Congress on Monday night workers covered the roadside light posts and others structures with their party flags towards the temple, while the BJP tied party flags on them on Tuesday morning. Shah waved hands when party supporters welcomed him with slogans. There was no event to address supporters by Shah and Nadda.
“The visit by our party’s two heavyweights and meeting with our party functionaries are our internal issues. We have discussed poll preparedness and strategy focusing on the next year’s Lok Sabha elections,” said Adhikari.
Party’s 4 central observers in panel
Four members of the election management committee are the BJP’s central observers — Sunil Bansal, Amit Malviya, Asha Lakra and Mangal Pandey — while others in the panel include former national president Dilip Ghosh, West Bengal unit head Sukanta Majumdar, former state president Rahul Sinha, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.