New Delhi: After running an aggressive campaign in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress is banking on its new booth-management plan to deliver on the polling day ie; on November 12. Campaigning for the 68 Assembly seats in the hill state ended on Thursday and the focus of party managers is now on the close to 7,881 polling stations set up by the Election Commission of India.
In the 2017 polls, the Congress was in power under Chief Minister Virbahdra Singh, but lost to the BJP, which won 44 seats. The grand old party, which was reduced to just 21 seats, is eyeing to stage a comeback this time. After five years, the party is again banking on the legacy of the former CM whose wife Pratibha Singh is the state unit head. “We have run an aggressive campaign. However, booth management is the key to winning the polls. We have made elaborate arrangements and are prepared for the polling day,” AICC in-charge of Himachal Pradesh Tajinder Pal Singh Bittoo told ETV Bharat.
Taking a cue from the 2017 elections, the Congress managers formed separate teams for booth management and conducted extensive training for them to ensure the electors cast their votes. The polling booths in Lahaul-Spiti, a cold desert dotted by tiny hamlets spread over the Himalayan peaks, adjoining Tibet, are scattered over rugged and inhospitable terrain with poll officials having to trek hours to reach there.
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The booth-level teams were also tasked with coordinating with the locals to ensure a decent crowd at the party rallies. This allowed the party managers to assess ground-level support and prepare strategies for the polling day, said party insiders. The party managers have also trained the polling agents to supervise booths and keep an eye on the ruling BJP workers.
“They are in power and may try to misuse government machinery. We have trained our polling agents to keep an eye on any electoral malpractices like tampering with the EVM or bogus votes and report it to us immediately. We have held mock EVM training sessions for the polling agents also,” said Bitto. A day ahead of the polling, AICC general secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh Rajiv Shukla reviewed the preparations with all the polling agents to encourage them and give final instructions. On Saturday, Shukla as well as the other AICC functionaries involved in the state elections would be in direct touch with the polling agents to ensure fair play. Earlier, this used to be the responsibility of the candidates only.
Such is the alertness in Congress that the polling agents have been asked not to leave the booths even for a minute. “We have told them to be alert. Food packets and water would be provided to them on the spot,” said Bittoo. According to Rajesh Dharmani, who is contesting from the Ghumarwin seat in the Bilaspur area, the Congress has done extensive booth-level review this time keeping in mind some malpractices by the rivals in the previous elections. “Booth management is very important for the polling day. Our agents have devised local strategies to maximise voter participation. Last time there were some instances of liquor being used by our rivals to win support from locals. We are careful this time,” Dharmani said.
