In Gujarat battle, Cong prepares for 2019 ISSUES RAISED BY CONG RESEARCH DEPT

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Shweta Brahmbhatt, 34, an investment banker, is the Congress candidate from Ahmedabad’s Maninagar constituency — the seat that elected Narendra Modi, the then chief minister, to the Gujarat assembly thrice from 2002 to 2012. Vijay Dave, a doctorate, is contesting on a Congress ticket from the nearby Ellis Bridge constituency.

Both Brahmbhatt and Dave, fielded in the face of resistance from the party rank and file, are making their electoral debut. Their candidature also marks the electoral debut of Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Gowdaled research department of the party in the tumult of elections. Dave heads the research team in Gujarat. Brahmbhatt has assisted the team intermittently in | | | Gujarat ranks 24th in sex ratio Most technical and professional courses now being offered only in private colleges Increased fee burden the past couple of years.

The two seats are the case studies for the Congress, particularly its research department, to draw lessons for the bigger battle ahead in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. When the election managers of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are focused on the 45 seats where the victory margin was less than 5,000 votes in 2012, the research department hopes to help the party prepare for the future. The Congress won 11 of | | Gross school enrolment ratio 20% below national average Minimum Support Price increase dipped from 19.7% (2009-13) to 3.6% (2014-17) the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat in 2009.

Maninagar and Ellis Bridge are BJP strongholds. The BJP has won Maninagar in the past six elections, and Ellis Bridge in the past five. In 2012, the BJP won 14 of the 16 assembly seats in Ahmedabad. Seats in Ahmedabad, and other urban centres, are where the BJP’s communal polarisation resonatesmore. But, the young voters here have either no memory of the 2002 riots or are disappointed with the BJP’s failure to deliver on the economic front, an internal Congress survey found.

These are also the seats where the Congress discovered how deeply its district units and ward committees are compromised. In the absence of support from local party leaders, the Congress has parachuted legislators and Youth Congress leaders from across India to manage the elections. Help from the activist groups sympathetic to the Congress’ world view has also been sought. Mistakes have been a dime a dozen. The rudest was when grassroots leaders in urban areas were found to be conducting door-to-door campaigning for the BJP the very next day after they were sent election funds by the Congress.