In addition to the strong wave in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that prevailed across Shivamogga parliamentary seat, the shrewd campaigning and booth-level management strategies adopted by the BJP are attributed as reasons for its victory by a huge margin of 2.23 lakh votes here in the general election.
It may be mentioned here that in the general election of 2014, B.S. Yeddyurappa, former Chief Minister, who was in fray as BJP candidate for Shivamogga seat registered a victory by a whopping margin of more than 3.60 lakh votes against Manjunath Bhandary of Congress.
In the byelection for Shivamogga parliamentary seat in 2018, B.Y. Raghavendra of BJP secured a victory by a margin of around 52,000 votes against Madhu Bangarappa of JD(S). The decline in the victory margin in the byelection compared to the general election of 2014 was a cause of concern for BJP.
S. Rudre Gowda, MLC and president of BJP district unit, told The Hindu that the booths where BJP’s performance was poor in the byelection were identified. Of 2,021 booths in Shivamogga parliamentary seat, the BJP had secured less than 50% votes in as many as 836 booths. The well-oiled and robust campaign machinery of the party was activated in those booths prior to the announcement of the general election.
Through the Page Pramukhs, effort was made to win over voters who had so far not supported the party. Door-to-door campaigning to apprise the voters on the achievements of the NDA government at the Centre was held in a sustained manner in such booths. Incumbent and the former members of the gram panchayats who are supporters of BJP were actively involved in the campaigning in villages, he said.
The BJP had also prepared a list of the families that directly benefited from Central schemes. In Bhadravati, Sagar and Sorab Assembly segments – where the performance of the BJP was not on expected lines – the party cadres visited such families and requested them to re-elect Mr. Modi as Prime Minister.
Prior to the declaration of the general election, cricket, kabaddi and volleyball tournaments were held across the constituency under the slogan ‘Modi Mathomme’, for re-election of Mr. Modi as Prime Minister. These events helped the party strengthen its sway over the youth who form a sizeable chunk of the electorate.
Mr. Gowda said that, through these campaigns, the BJP was able to interact with more than 8 lakh voters in Shivamogga.
The hardwork yielded dividends and the margin of victory enhanced from around 52,000 votes in the byelection to 2.23 lakh votes in the general election, he added.
