BJP to hold booth level meets from May 31

nNEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to allow its election booth management functionaries to begin meetings on a small scale with social distancing measures in place as it seeks to resume political activity in poll-bound Bihar, two functionaries aware of the matter said.

A state BJP functionary said the first such meeting will take place on May 31 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio broadcast ‘Mann ki Baat’ will be aired.

Assembly elections in Bihar, where the BJP is part of the ruling coalition, are due this year. They are crucial since the BJP lost power in Jharkhand while it was unable to form the government in Maharashtra despite emerging as the single largest party. In Haryana, it returned to power but with a reduced majority. The Election Commission has put on hold elections to fill vacant seats in the Rajya Sabha as well as by-elections in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We have decided that seven people put in charge of a booth in every assembly constituency will gather to hear the broadcast and that will serve the purpose of restarting political activity without breaking any protocols,” said the functionary on condition of anonymity. The activity will be started as a pilot in 50,000 of 62,000 booth areas. Seven booth functionaries, known as ‘saptarishis’, each will exchange their feedback.

“It is too early to start preparing for the election, but we have told our members to focus on issues at hand,” the second functionary said.