New Delhi, Nov 20, 2022, IANS
New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) The ongoing election campaign for the Gujarat Assembly polls seems to be reaching its peak as the political parties are putting all efforts to gain the voters' trust in this crucial election.
Voting for a total of 182 assembly seats in the state is to be held in two phases on December 1 and 5.
Gujarat, a state where for the last 27 years there has been a direct contest between the two major parties - Congress and the BJP, but this time, AAP is trying hard to make it a triangular contest.
For BJP, Gujarat is not just a state but a laboratory and a model on the basis of which, the party separates itself from other political parties in the country, while on the other side, for Congress, which has been continuously losing elections in the state, performing brilliantly in Gujarat seems to be a question of survival this time.
Meanwhile, for AAP spectacular performance in Gujarat is a necessity for strengthening its claim of being an alternative to the Congress at national level.
Obviously, the mandate of the people of Gujarat is expected to have an impact on the assembly elections of many states to be held next year as well as the Lok Sabha elections of 2024. This is the reason why the BJP, which is contesting elections in Gujarat with the aim of forming the government for the seventh consecutive term on the basis of the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has chalked out a strategy to field all its Chief Ministers, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in the election campaign.
Union ministers including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and others, national and state office bearers of BJP as well as MPs, MLAs, ministers from various states and even former ministers are being deployed for poll campaigning in Gujarat.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has taken the responsibility of creating a political atmosphere in favour of the BJP in the state, Home Minister Amit Shah is keeping an eye on the seat-by-seat equation.
Under the first phase of polling in the state, voting is to be held on December 1 on 89 assembly seats.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has a detailed knowledge of each and every seat in the state, is going to address eight rallies between 19 and 21 November.
A senior BJP leader said that the Prime Minister may hold around 30 rallies and roadshows this time during the campaign for the elections.
The depth of the BJP's poll campaign strategy can be estimated from the fact that the party has already deployed its three chief ministers, six union ministers, national leaders and MPs from various states, for campaigning for the first phase of the elections.
Three dozen veteran leaders of the state have been fielded for the election campaign. In the coming days, the party is also going to field its other chief ministers, central ministers and national leaders in the election campaign.
The BJP has been winning elections in Gujarat continuously since 1995. By winning 121 legislative seats in the state in 1995, the BJP formed a government with an absolute majority in the state for the first time on its own. After this, the formed its government second time by winning 117 seats in 1998, third time in 2002 by winning 127 seats, fourth time in 2007 by winning 117 seats and in 2012 by winning 115 seats for the fifth consecutive time.
In the 2017 assembly elections, there was a tough fight between the BJP and the Congress, in which the number of seats of the BJP reached below 100, but despite this, it won 99 seats, seven seats more than the number of MLAs required to form the government in the state. With this, the BJP formed the government for the sixth time consecutively in the state.
Taking lessons from the past mistakes, the BJP has made extensive preparations this time at many levels and now the party is claiming that this time it will be its biggest ever victory in the state.
The BJP has realisation that the bigger the victory in Gujarat, the easier it will be for the party in the coming elections.
