The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday appointed observers for each Gujarat district to kick-start the process of collecting feedback from ground-level party workers to select candidates for the upcoming Assembly election.
The poll, due in December but dates for which haven’t been announced yet, is unlikely to be the usual face-off with the Congress this time with the Aam Aadmi Party entering the fray. There are 182 Assembly seats in the State.
From Thursday, a three-member team of BJP observers appointed for each of 33 districts and five major cities began meeting party workers and ticket aspirants. The 38 teams include current and former Ministers, MPs, and senior office-bearers at the national, State and district levels.
As part of the process, a report will be prepared by the observers for each seat on the basis of the feedback and submitted to the State party leadership to aid selection of candidates. The entire exercise is scheduled to last three days.
“They will meet the local leaders, ticket aspirants and potential candidates and prepare a report with a panel of names based on the feedback and local social equations,” said a party leader.
“Workers gathered today [Thursday] to give their opinion for Dholka, Dhandhuka and Daskroi Assembly seats in Ahmedabad district,” BJP’s Ahmedabad district president Harshad Giri told media persons.
The observers’ report for each seat is deliberated by the BJP’s State parliamentary board, which sends its recommendations to the national parliamentary board for final selection of candidates.
