BJP may deny ticket to 50% sitting MLAs on performance

PARTY LINE Apart from performance, local issues, caste equations to determine selection The party will be giving tickets to only those sitting MLAs, who have performed well. This will also help us to beat antiincumbency. The assessment is based on feedback received from the groundlevel workers and the record of the works done by the sitting MLAs, besides the public mood in the constituency

SENIOR BJP LEADER, who does not wish to be named JAIPUR:

If the BJP goes by the performance of its sitting MLAs based on a recent review, the party is likely to deny tickets for the coming assembly polls to more than half of them.

At present, BJP has 160 legislaters in the 200-seat state assembly.

Apart from performance, local issues and caste equations will determine the candidate selection, said a senior party leader, who does not wish to be named.

“The party will be giving tickets to only those sitting MLAs, who have performed well. This will also help us to beat anti-incumbency. The assessment is based on feedback received from the ground-level workers and the record of the works done by the sitting MLAs, besides the public mood in the constituency,” he said.

The BJP leader did not rule out the possibility of some nonperforming state ministers also being denied the ticket.

On September 9, chief minister Vasundhara Raje had said that the tickets for the coming assembly elections would be distributed based on survey of probable candidates.

“It will depend on the acceptability of the candidate. He who is ready to work in coordination with others will get the ticket,” she had said during a public address held during Gaurav Yatra in Sriganganagar district.

State BJP president Madanlal Saini refused to comment on candidate selection.

In an interview to HT on July 17, Saini had said, “Getting a ticket is not a right (of a candidate). It is the party’s decision based on the decision of the parliamentary board. We have to see the social equation and look at the work done by a particular MLA and it also depends on the feedback received from the people.”

State BJP spokesperson Mukesh Parikh said, “It’s too soon to talk about ticket distribution that will happen in Novem- ber. The matter will be handled by our senior party leaders.”

The party has been collecting feedback from booth-level workers, block and district-level office-bearers for quite some time now.

Raje has also been gathering feedback during her visits to different assembly constituencies, earlier as part of Jan Samvad programme and now during the course of Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra.

The party has documented the works done by legislaters as compared to the promises made in the run-up to the 2013 elections and also the demands of the people from the region.

With the elections drawing nearer, the party offices across the state are witnessing ticket aspirants, who are trying to strike a chord with senior party leaders.

In the 2008 elections, which BJP lost to Congress, Raje had dropped 61 MLAs including four ministers.