With polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls around the corner, the ruling BJP has directed its workers to hit the ground and contact directly with voters. Interestingly, the BJP has not yet announced its candidate from Nagpur, but sitting MP and Union minister Nitin Gadkari is set to contest again from the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency.
The notification for the first phase of voting on April 11 has been announced and nomination process is currently underway. The Congress party has fielded former Gondia-Bhandara MP Nana Patole.
Though the BJP is confident of victory, it is in no mood to take any chance. The party workers and office-bearers are making detailed plans to woo voters and leaving nothing to chance.
A massive team of 65,000-70,000 BJP workers and supporters has fanned out in every assembly segment that falls under the Lok Sabha constituency, which has 1,903 voting booths, BJP sources said.
One ‘panna pramukh’ has been deployed for each voters list. There are around 55,000 people working as ‘panna pramukh’ (page in-charge) in the constituency.
The ‘panna pramukh’ is the first point of contact for voters under the BJP’s election management strategy. Besides, 10,000-20,000 BJP office-bearers and workers are part of other campaigning verticals, they said.
The workers will apprise the voters about various welfare schemes launched by the BJP-led governments centre and Maharashtra.
A team of 50 workers will be actively working in each Vidhan Sabha constituency under the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat. There are six Vidhan Sabha segments in Nagpur.
Similarly, a micro-planning team is working under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Gadkari himself is overseeing all the campaigning work in Maharashtra. Likewise, ‘cluster pramukhs’ will be working under Nagpur Guardian Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule. These ‘cluster pramukhs’ will look after campaigning on social media in assembly constituencies and door-to-door campaigns.
A manifesto team has also been formed under local legislators who will be going to the voters with the BJP’s manifesto.
Besides, several public meetings have been lined up. State and Union ministers will address these meetings. There are a total of 40,24,197 voters, including 19,57,995 women, in the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency, where voting will take place in single phase on April 11.
