Kolkata, 27 December (H.S.): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has intensified its strategy in preparation for the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal next year. The party has begun to focus specifically on those assembly constituencies where its candidates lost by very narrow margins in the previous elections.

The party's state leadership has set a benchmark. Under this, seats are being identified where the margin of defeat was less than 10,000 votes in the 2021 assembly elections and the assembly constituency-wise results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

According to a member of the BJP's state committee, although the number of seats won in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was less than in 2019, the assembly constituency-wise performance was better than in the 2021 assembly elections. After a detailed study of the results of all 294 assembly constituencies, areas where the margin of defeat was very narrow have been identified. Special strategies are now being implemented in these seats.

He explained that in the assembly constituencies where the BJP lost by a margin of 10,000 votes or less, the votes received by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front played a crucial role in securing victory for the Trinamool Congress candidates. For this reason, the party is now placing special emphasis on winning over non-BJP but anti-Trinamool Congress voters.

In the 2021 assembly elections, the BJP emerged as the largest opposition party in the state, winning 77 seats. The assembly constituency-wise analysis of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections revealed that BJP candidates were ahead of the Trinamool Congress in 90 assembly constituencies. A figure of 148 seats is required to form a government in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, the party leadership is also closely monitoring the special intensive revision process, under which names are being removed from the electoral rolls. According to the draft electoral roll released on December 16, the names of 58.20 lakh voters have been removed so far. The process of hearing claims and objections has begun.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) estimates that the number of voters removed from the final electoral roll could exceed one crore (10 million). The Election Commission will announce the dates for the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2026 after the final electoral roll is published in February.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey