The BJP hopes to significantly improve its performance in the Dalit-dominated constituencies of the city on the basis of a sustained and focused outreach campaign carried out over months ahead of the assembly elections on February 5.
The party failed to win even one of the 12 SC (Scheduled Caste) reserved constituencies in the 2015 and 2020 assembly elections. Even in previous elections, the BJP was never able to win more than two-three of these seats.
According to Delhi BJP leaders, there are 30 assembly constituencies in Delhi, of which 12 are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, with voters from the Dalit community ranging from 17 to 45 percent.
He pointed out that apart from the 12 reserved constituencies, there are 18 other seats, including Rajendra Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Adarsh Nagar, Shahdara, Tughlakabad, Bijwasan, which have up to 25 per cent of SC community votes, where the BJP and its SC Morcha have held sway in the last several months. Have worked in.
Over the past few months, an extensive outreach campaign was carried out through Scheduled Caste workers in the slums and unauthorized colonies of these 30 constituencies.
Delhi BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha president Mohan Lal Gihara said senior Scheduled Caste workers have been deployed as extenders in all 30 constituencies to reach out among members of the community.
He informed that Vistarak has deployed 10 Dalit youth at each polling station for person-to-person contact in different localities and residential areas of these constituencies.
The party has identified more than 5,600 such polling stations, out of which more than 1,900 polling stations have been given special attention. Party leaders said a network of over 18,000 activists was involved in the entire process of talking to voters and telling them about the work done by the Modi government for the community and AAP’s “failures” in its 10-year rule.
In the second phase, the party inducted 55 prominent Dalit leaders into the party, including former Union ministers and MPs from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. He told that a marathon round of meetings went on in these constituencies.
Additionally, approximately 3,500 key community leaders, identified as key voters with political influence in their neighborhoods, were contacted to further deepen engagement. The party started organizing “SC Swabhiman Sammelans” from December to honor political influential people, professionals, successful persons and prominent locals of the community in these constituencies.
Gihara said, “So far 15 such conferences have been organized and a senior BJP leader is present in each one. These big meetings have seen huge support from the community, in which 1,500-2,500 ordinary members of the Dalit community participated. “
He said that individual invitations were sent to each of these participants to attend these meetings, in order to strengthen their sense of “self-respect” and connection with the party.
Voting for 70 assembly seats in Delhi will be held on February 5. The results will be declared after counting of votes on February 8. The BJP was defeated by the Aam Aadmi Party, which had won all Dalit-dominated seats in 2015 and 2020. The saffron party has been out of power in the city since 1998.
