BENGALURU: As party-hopping has become the order of the day in state politics, the ruling BJP has decided to reward only those who are committed to working for the organisation, rather than considering winnability as the only criterion, while giving tickets to contest the upcoming zilla and taluk panchayat elections.
The State Election Commission has completed the process of delimitation of ZP and TP segments and lobbying for tickets in all parties will start once the notification on reservation category for those seats is announced.
This time, the number of ZP seats in the state will increase by around 100 to 1,190 and TP seats will reduce by around 600 to 3,273 as voters per constituency decreased from 40,000 to 35,000 for ZP, and increased from 10,000 to 12,500 for TP seat. The elections are likely to be held in June. The BJP is said to have decided that the candidates’ section will not be based on the recommendations of party legislators or MPs, but after getting feedback from workers and leaders at the grassroots level.
“The party has decided to give tickets to those who are committed to working for the party. Winnability will not be the only criterion,” said senior BJP leader and former MLC Ashwath Narayan Gowda.
Commitment to work for the party, seniority, position or responsibility they are handling and ability to win the elections will be the criteria for the selection of candidates for ZP, TP and urban local body elections, Gowda added.
He is in charge of urban local body elections in Ballari and plans to hold a series of meetings with booth-level workers and members of Shakti Kendras to get their feedback before the party finalises its candidates.The BJP, Congress and JDS will focus on the zilla and taluk elections after bypolls to Belagavi Lok Sabha and Maski and Basavakalyan Assembly segments.