The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has directed its Odisha unit to increase outreach on the ground and ensure that gains made in the 2024 elections are not squandered ahead of the panchayat polls scheduled next year, people familiar with the matter said.
In 2024, the BJP won 78 of the 147 seats in the state assembly and formed government in Odisha for the first time, displacing Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) from power after 24 years. The BJP also won 20 of the state’s 21 Lok Sabha seats, even as its number of seats in Uttar Pradesh fell from 62 seats in 2019 to 33, and its total number of seats fell below the majority mark in Parliament for the first time since 2014.
The BJP leadership noted that Odisha leaders were avoiding travelling, which is usually done to engage with the masses. She asked them to expand the scope of the party and urged the cadre to ensure that the Special Intensified Review (SIR) does not turn into a political controversy in the state.
The BJP wants its cadres to organize help desks for people, given concerns over SIR and its potential to turn into a political controversy, as happened in West Bengal, raising concerns about mass disenfranchisement.
BJD Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Batra has written to the Election Commission of India, raising the issue of nearly 900,000 names identified for deletion during the pre-SIR exercise. He urged the implementation of stronger safeguards to avoid the illegal exclusion of legitimate voters and ensure the transparency of the SIR.
BJP president Nitin Nabeen, who was in Odisha last week, held meetings with state leaders and stressed the importance of traveling and spending time, especially in rural areas, the people mentioned above said. “He stressed the need to focus on SIR and said booth officials should be aware of the discrepancies and ensure that no eligible voters are removed from the list,” said the BJP leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Nabin reviewed the staff’s preparedness for the panchayat elections. He asked the state leaders to amplify state and central schemes that directly affect voters and asked them to stay away from controversies. The cadre was also tasked with expanding the government’s work on social media and using technology to engage with youth in particular.
“He spoke about the need to change the perception that the state government is not working effectively. Some areas need attention… like improving communication between the party and the government, streamlining the work within the party. The central leadership was emphatic that the party cannot rest on its laurels and drop the ball, even though there is no effective opposition on the ground,” a second leader said.
The BJP intensified its attacks on the government, led by Patnaik. Patnaik criticized the government for failing to maintain law and order following the May 18 attack on a couple in Berhampur. He said Odisha was “witnessing a terrifying scene of chaos”.
