New Delhi: Ahead of the Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir by year-end, AICC surveys are on to assess the party’s ground-level strength and identify potential candidates. According to party insiders, the feedback so far is positive on the Congress prospects in the four states where the winnability criteria will be decisive, but a lot of emphasis would be placed on the ideology and loyalty factor of the ticket seekers.
The positive sentiment is backed by a rush for tickets in the four poll-bound states where the maximum response has come from Haryana where the Congress has been out of power for the past decade. According to party insiders, the Haryana unit had received over 2,000 applications for the 90 Assembly seats by July 31 and the figure is likely to go up to 2,300 as the last date to apply has been extended till August 10.
“We are talking about the interests of all the 36 communities in the state. The people are angry with the ruling BJP, which has put the state behind on several development indicators in the past 10 years. The people are now coming out in support of the Congress,” former Chief Minister BS Hooda told ETV Bharat.
While the party is contesting on its own in Haryana, the Congress is part of an alliance in Maharashtra and Jharkhand and is yet to take a call on the matter in UT Jammu and Kashmir.
“We are strong in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions and almost on equal footing with the Shiv Sena UBT in Mumbai. The NCP is strong in Marathwada and Sena UBT is strong in the Konkan region. The ground level feed will be factored in during seat-sharing talks,” AICC in-charge Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala told ETV Bharat.
Chennithala chaired a strategy session with senior state leaders on August 4 to firm up the party’s position during the MVA meeting on August 7. In Jharkhand, the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance hopes to retain power despite a not-so-impressive show in the Lok Sabha polls. Out of a total of 14 parliamentary seats, the NDA won nine while the INDIA bloc won five in the tribal state.
“Various surveys are on to assess the ground situation. So far, the feedback is in favour of the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance. I am receiving four or five applications every day. In the previous Assembly polls, we had contested 31 out of 81 seats, but we will add a few seats to our quota this time. Though winnability will be the main criteria to shortlist potential candidates, we want the ticket seekers to be committed to the party ideology and work for the poor after they get elected,” Jharkhand unit chief Rajesh Thakur told ETV Bharat.
“The voters behave differently during the national and state elections,” he said. AICC in-charge Jammu & Kashmir Bharat Sinh Solanki said the survey for the manifesto was also being used to shortlist the candidates for the state polls, which will be fought on local issues. The feedback was positive in the Jammu area, he added.
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