Plan to field candidates on all 70 seats of Delhi

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has made preparations to field its candidates on all 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections. According to the party official, the first list of candidates may be released by mid-January. The party has started the process of candidate selection by dividing Delhi into five zones.

Candidate Selection Process

In the candidate selection process of BSP, coordinators have been appointed for every zone. These central coordinators will recommend names from the respective areas, the final decision on which will be taken by BSP chief Mayawati.

• Zone-wise process: The names of the candidates are being decided by dividing Delhi into five zones.
• Review of recommendations: The coordinator will finalize his recommendations and send them to Mayawati.
• Likely to release the list: The first list of candidates is expected to be released by January 15.

ground level preparation

The party has started organizing small meetings at the grassroots level. In these meetings, local issues of Delhi and the election agenda of the party are being discussed.

• Focus on local issues: Candidates are being decided keeping in mind the issues emerging in the discussions.
• Start of election campaign: The party’s election campaign is likely to start from January 5.

BSP’s election strategy

BSP chief Mayawati and her successor will themselves participate in the election campaign. The party’s campaign will gain momentum after the announcement of election dates and candidates.

BSP’s performance in last elections

BSP’s performance in the Delhi Assembly elections last time was not encouraging.

• 2020 elections: Despite contesting on all 70 seats, BSP got only 0.71% votes.
• 2015 elections: BSP’s vote share was 1.13%.
• 2008 elections: BSP had its best performance with 14.05% vote share and won two seats.
• 2003 elections: The party contested 40 seats and received 5.76% of the votes.

election contest in delhi

This time the main contest in Delhi is likely to be between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

• AAP dominance: AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal, has been in power in the capital since 2015.
• Campaign: AAP has already released the list of all its candidates. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will contest from New Delhi seat, while Atishi is contesting from Kalkaji seat.

New hopes of BSP

Although BSP’s previous performance has been weak, this time the party has changed its strategy. The party is expected to perform better with grassroots level activism, zone-wise candidate selection and involvement of the central leadership.

Multi-cornered competition in Delhi politics can open the way to new possibilities for BSP. The upcoming elections will play an important role in deciding the future direction of the party.