After facing a volley of rebellions over ticket distribution in Haryana, the BJP has decided to take a more cautious approach in Jharkhand where Assembly elections are due later this year. Unlike most states, where the state leadership sends the names of three best candidates from each constituency for the Central Election Committee (CEC) to choose from, the Jharkhand BJP has asked its cadres to pick the best three candidates in each constituency.
Sources say the BJP has put in place a feedback mechanism in each constituency wherein BJP cadre – mandal-level to booth-level workers – have been asked to name who they think is best suited to get the BJP ticket. They are allowed to name a maximum of three favourites, stating the reasons for picking them in brief.
Be it Lok Sabha elections or state elections, the local BJP unit sends three names from each constituency which the party’s core committee deliberates on along with the central leadership before placing them in front of the CEC, which makes the final decision. So far, it is the state leadership that finalized the three names from each constituency. But Jharkhand BJP will witness a massive feedback program to avoid any rebellion.
“The party doesn’t want a repeat of the Haryana election in Jharkhand,” said a BJP leader, requesting anonymity.
In Haryana, Kurukshetra BJP MP Naveen Jindal’s mother Savitri Jindal is fighting as an Independent from Hisar, while Prashant Sunny Yadav who joined the saffron party before the Lok Sabha elections, is also likely to contest as an Independent after failing to get a ticket from Rewari.
A video that has gone viral shows Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini attempting to shake hands with Karan Kamboj, who refused to do so and walked past him with folded hands. Kamboj had been seeking a ticket from either Indri or Radaur, but was snubbed for both, following which he resigned from the BJP.
Many BJP leaders in Haryana and their followers were upset at tickets being given to turncoats like Shruti Chaudhry and Pavan Kharkahuda.
In Jharkhand, the party’s state unit has been careful in listening to the ‘Mann ki Baat’ of its workers even before shortlisting names to place before the central leadership.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP’s co-incharge for Jharkhand elections, is overseeing this feedback mechanism.
The BJP, after losing all five reserved seats in Jharkhand — Khunti, Singhbhum, Lohardaga, Rajmahal, and Dumka — in the Lok Sabha elections, has shortlisted 10 reserved seats and appointed seat-wise in-charges while getting a strong tribal face on its side in Champai Soren. But it knows everything can go awry if a Haryana-like rebellion hits the party in Jharkhand.
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