BJP's panna pramukh ensured that more voters step out to vote

The BJP was counting on a high voting percentage to win the battle for Delhi, even as exit polls predicted a victory for Aam Admi Party.

"If the voting percentage goes up to 65 per cent, we will have a 6 per cent-8 per cent increase in our votes. Only if it is below 60 per cent, is there cause for concern," said BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao in the afternoon when around 40 per cent had voted.

The voting percentage touched 67 per cent but exit polls gave a clear edge to Arvind Kejriwal's AAP.

To ensure a higher voter percentage, the BJP had put in place a strategy to aggressively involve its volunteers, who went to the doorsteps of voters when there was just around an hour left for polling to end on Saturday. The "panna pramukh (in-charge of a page of around 1100 electoral rolls)" had been given a target of reaching out to at least 30 voters. Over a lakh volunteers, several of them affiliated to the RSS, had fanned out at around 12,000 polling stations across Delhi.

The panna pramukh strategy was part of BJP President Amit Shah's micro-management tactics at the booths in an effort to ensure that no stone was left unturned at the grassroot level in the battle for Delhi.