Booth management will be a key ingredient in the Congress' plan to capture power in Gujarat where it has been in the opposition for about a decade.
AHMEDABAD: Booth management will be a key ingredient in the Congress' plan to capture power in Gujarat where it has been in the opposition for about a decade.
The party has framed an extensive booth management strategy for the state polls scheduled at the year-end, giving it the name "One Booth, Five Youth" programme. The move came after the party realised it would be at a disadvantage if it ignored any longer the need to managing the polling booths.
"The BJP, with its workers, has had an edge over the Congress in recent elections due to its booth management strategy," a senior Congress leader said.
"The Congress used to have booth management earlier but after staying in power for many years in the state, it forgot grassroots work. But now the party has decided to revive it," the leader said.
State Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki and state in-charge B K Hariprasad have personally travelled to several constituencies to form the "booth committee" comprising five youths.
"I have travelled to 35 constituencies for framing booth committee and 40 per cent of our work in the state is completed. We are working hard to cover the rest of the constituencies," Hariprasad told.
"Booth committees are very essential in Gujarat as they have to manage things on the crucial day of voting. They have to guard against bogus voting and also check discrepancies in the voters' list," he said.
"In the last election in Gujarat, the BJP had won some seats with a very low margin. The BJP indulged in bogus voting in the last elections," Hariprasad alleged.
"However, this time, with strong booth committes, we will be able to counter that."
Solanki said; "We will train five youths in every booth on how to manage the booths on the Election Day."
Sources in the Congress said the party is facing difficulties in framing booth committies in the urban areas of Gujarat.
"The party is finding it difficult to get dedicated workers in every booth in urban constituencies, while the booth committees have been formed in the rural area," a party leader said.
Another party leader Shaktisinh Gohil said there are 600 to 1,200 voters at every booth. The booth committee's members will have the total responsibility of getting pro-Congress voters to exercise their franchise and ensuring that no bogus voting takes place.
The Congress will have the database and contact numbers of each and every booth committee head and will be in touch with them on Election Day, he said.
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