In UP, the BJP is going to start the process of choosing candidates for the Lok Sabha elections next month. This time the formula for ticket selection in the elections will be different from 2019. Before candidate selection, the BJP has started conducting surveys at three levels based on the ‘Triple Three’ formula.
The first survey is being conducted by the central BJP team. The second survey is being conducted by the BJP organisation on the state government. The government is getting the survey work done at the third level. Candidates will be decided only on the basis of the reports of these three surveys.
According to sources, after the initial survey report comes, in the ‘formula’ for candidate selection that is being made, only the ‘winning’ candidate will be given preference. In this, the ticket can be relaxed due to old age, that is, if a candidate is ‘winning’ and his age is 75 or above, then he can also contest the election. Along with this, BJP has also made the performance of MPs along with local and caste equations the basis for choosing candidates. Soon the state BJP team will sit with the central BJP team and decide the criteria for candidate selection.
This time the age criteria for issuing tickets can be relaxed. In 2014, the BJP had decided that tickets should not be given to leaders above 75 years of age. After this, tickets of leaders like Kalraj Mishra, Murli Manohar Joshi were cancelled from UP. At the same time, in the 2022 assembly elections, leaders like Mukut Bihari Verma, Rajesh Aggarwal and Hriday Narayan Dixit did not get the assembly tickets. But this formula has been relaxed during the upcoming elections of five states. Candidates whose age limit is 75 years and above have also been given tickets for selection.
Multiple criteria are being made for selection of candidates for Lok Sabha elections as the party wants to capture all the 80 seats in the state. Also, the focus on surveys shows that the party doesn’t want to decide anything on the basis of pressure tactics, seniority or age criteria to secure maximum seats. Moreover, it is messaging the workers and leaders that if they work hard for the party putting aside personal issues the chance of getting tickets is going to be high.