BJP appoints incharges for every constituency in poll-bound Bihar, plans `saptarishi' for every booth

By Amit Kumar
New Delhi [India], Mar 11 : With Bihar expected to go to the polls later this year, political parties have begun preparations despite the lockdown and BJP has appointed incharges for all 243 assembly seats in the state.
The incharges will give detailed reports to state party president Sanjay Jaiswal regarding poll preparedness, strategy and political situation of the assembly seat.
BJP is also planning a seven-member special team at every booth that would be called 'Saptarishi'.
'Saptarishi' will include members from weaker sections such as scheduled caste and scheduled tribes. It will also have a member from the backward classes, women, yuva morcha apart from booth committee president, a booth in charge and a co-incharge.
Party leaders said BJP will focus on the booths as ground-level mobilization plays a critical role in deciding the outcome of election. The BJP is part of ruling National Democratic Alliance in the state.
Bihar BJP President Sanjay Jaiswal told ANI that incharges have already been appointed in all 243 seats.
He said organizational work was a continuous process and selection of nearly 62,000 booth presidents has been completed despite the lockdown.
Jaiswal said selection of remaining booth presidents will be completed soon.
"Selection of 'Saptarishi' will be also completed very soon. It will strengthen the party at the booth level and will inform people about the welfare scheme of the government and motivate them to vote in favour of the party," he said.
Former Bihar BJP president Gopal Narayan Singh told ANI that politics in Bihar is based on the caste system, especially in assembly election, and politicians were unwilling to fight it on the issue of development.
"We cannot deny this fact. You can see the last four or five assembly elections. You can easily understand how caste combination dominates in the state assembly poll. Despite poverty and backwardness in Bihar, politicians of state do not want to fight assembly election in the name of development. They want to carry on caste politics for their political advantage," Singh said.
BJP is seen to have a strong organizational structure and caste equations are likely to play a role in the choice of booth chiefs.
An RJD leader, who is also a former MP, told ANI on the condition of anonymity that BJP and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD)--"has a disciplined organizational structure at village level and booth level".
"JD-U has also expanded its party cadre but JD-U is not as strong BJP and RJD at the organisational level," he said.