After the bugle of Lok Sabha elections, in the election battle of almost a month, Congress tried to deliver five justice and 25 guarantees to the voters. The opposition party has also played a bet on national and local issues that raise anti-incumbency against the BJP government at the Center and the state. Call it limited resources or changed strategy, there was no gathering of national level star campaigners in the state. The party relied heavily on regional campaigners. The distance that was visible among the big leaders of the state towards each other in the initial phase of the elections has brought about a major change before the final phase of the election campaign. The way regional star campaigners took the lead in the election campaign by reducing the distances in the hearts, its impact was visible on the enthusiasm of the workers at the grassroots level. Congress made extensive use of internet media to raise the election temperature which was lagging in all the five seats. On the basis of this, the party hopes that its efforts to bring about change will get the support of the voters on the voting day on April 19.
Election campaigning has stopped in Uttarakhand on Wednesday evening. Now a few hours are left for voting. With the conch sound being given for the Lok Sabha elections on March 16, it was also decided that the elections in this Central Himalayan region will be held in the first phase i.e. on April 19.
In the initial phase of elections, Congress was seen lagging behind in the race to elect candidates in five Lok Sabha constituencies of the state, when candidates could be declared in the final phase of nomination in two parliamentary constituencies, Haridwar and Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar. It is a different matter that the party termed this delay in the selection of candidates as part of the election strategy. Also, the strategic preparations of the main rival BJP in this matter were closely monitored till the last moment.
Party has more emphasis on booth management
This election is a litmus test for Congress. Taking lessons from the defeat in the last two Lok Sabha elections, the party prepared the outline of the election campaign keeping in mind the third election. Keeping in mind the tough competition from BJP, booth management became the priority of the party this time. The party formed mandal units between blocks and booths in response to the BJP’s Panna Pramukhs, with booth level agents at 11729 booths. More than 600 mandal units were activated in rural areas as soon as the elections were announced. Special emphasis was laid on using these units to get the message across to voters. Congress state in-charge Kumari Selja also issued instructions describing the role of the party’s BLA, booth units and mandal units as important in the elections. Party’s state co-incharge Deepika Pandey Singh kept camping in Uttarakhand during the entire Lok Sabha elections and took stock of the party’s preparations.
Congress is accepting its 25 guarantees, Modi’s answer
Congress has released the election manifesto as a verdict for the Lok Sabha elections. In this, many economically beneficial announcements have been made for youth, women, farmers and workers. Along with this, many promises have been made in the form of participatory justice by keeping the backward, scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and minority communities of the society at the center.
The party is assuming that in order to achieve social equation, the stake of share justice will increase its penetration in the traditional vote bank. Also, BJP’s strong hold in this vote bank will be weakened. After releasing the manifesto in New Delhi on April 5, it was also released in Uttarakhand on April 7. How much benefit the party will get from this step taken in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee, it will be known later. Congress’s election campaign, which has been away from power at the Center for 10 years and from power in the state for seven years, has definitely got a new boost from these promises.
Priyanka, Sachin and Imran came to Uttarakhand
On the occasion of elections, many big leaders including an MLA have increased the problems of Congress by joining BJP. The party facing crisis has got a big relief from the unity of its senior leaders in the elections. These leaders took charge of the election campaign in many areas. The party’s hand has been tight in the matter of star campaigners.
From the list of star campaigners, only the party’s national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held two election meetings in a day. Despite not including their names among the star campaigners, when the elections reached the final stage, leaders like former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot and Imran Pratapgarhi had to move to Uttarakhand. To deal with the shortage of national star campaigners, the party put state leaders on this front.