BJP to start internal review to pick candidates in Karnataka

BENGALURU: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will start the process of internal review to choose its candidates for a tightly contested assembly poll from Friday, informed sources told TNIE.

According to internal BJP sources, a team of 170 members comprising Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs), senior party leaders and state committee members will visit all assembly constituencies from Friday, and take informed opinions of former MLCs, MLAs and others on a one-to-one basis, regarding the probable candidates.

“Each team will comprise three members, and visit every assembly segment,” said sources.

“The members will collect the names and reports of all probable candidates, which will be shared with the state core committee headed by state unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel. The same list will be later submitted to the BJP’s top leadership — the central election committee — headed by BJP National President JP Nadda, with an internal survey, comments and opinion of the state committee and external (intelligence) reports,” said a party insider.

“The credentials for ticket distribution will rest heavily on the winnability factor, in which caste and community of the candidate will play a dominant role, besides past performance, popularity, organisational skills, party work etc,” he added. The BJP is likely to announce its list of candidates by next week.

Sources added that the BJP follows the same practice of strict internal review and assessment from the grassroots level, while choosing candidates for national party president to booth president.

There are 58,200 polling booths in Karnataka. The BJP has 45,000 booth committees in the state. Known for its organisational skills at the grassroots level, the party conducted its Booth Vijay Abhiyan from January 2 to 12 this year, to reach out to every household to increase its presence in every booth and assess booths where the party had secured fewer votes.

The BJP’s Shakti Kendras have been playing a key role in the capacity building of booths. The party has 6,500 Shakti Kendras (SKs) in Karnataka, each comprising three to five booths. Eight to 10 SKs constitute one Maha Shakti Kendra.