One of the most crucial rounds of state elections are approaching. It is considered as the semi-finals before the final match of 2019 general elections. Three BJP governing states, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are going to enter into polls in November-December, just before the general elections, which is going to be a very strong contest for the throne between the BJP and the Congress. These elections will definitely affect the outcome of the 2019 General elections and to some extent will determine the voting behaviour of the voters ahead of 2019 general elections. Considering the fact that all the three states are BJP governing states so it becomes very crucial for the BJP to retain all these states in order to repeat a 2014 General elections like performance.
Confident about winning 2019 general elections, Prime Minister Modi and BJP President Amit Shah is going to employ their tried and tested success formula. Replacing non-performing MLAs/ministers was one of the reasons why Modi-Shah duo managed to win and defeat anti-incumbency factor in Gujarat. Modi-Shah shows zero tolerance towards non-performance and unaccountability. Both the RSS and the BJP are likely to work towards using this tactic at the national level.
Recently, top leaders of the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party attended a meeting at Surajkund, Haryana. In the meeting, the RSS Sangathan Mantris have been given the task to submit a report on the working of all the BJP Lok Sabha MPs. The MP tickets for the 2019 elections would be distributed on the basis of the submitted report. So it means tickets are going to be given on the basis of performance which is a good way to make MPs more accountable to their constituents. In order to ensure hardworking and responsible MPs get the ticket again, here the job of Sangathan Mantris becomes very crucial. The Sangathan Mantris have been charged with the responsibility to analyze the working of the BJP MPs in their respective constituencies and whether people are supporting them or not, steps taken by them to build the BJP cadre in the region, and what are the possibilities of their winning the election again. Based on these parameters tickets would be distributed. The Sangathan Mantris have to submit the report within 30 days.
According to New Indian Express report, BJP is likely to drop one-third of sitting MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and also in Chhattisgarh but on a smaller scale. The state units of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are working on identifying weak and unpopular MLAs. The party is now looking for new fresh and winnable faces. RSS always prefer fresh faces in the election. There are reports that people are not happy with the BJP in Rajasthan, so it is a necessity there. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP is very strong and it has been in power for many terms now, so the BJP needs to be very careful while cutting the ticket of the sitting MLAs. It must remove those MLAs who have become complacent in the eyes of the public and must give tickets to strong crowd puller MLAs once more. This tactic has worked before and it would be interesting to see whether this formula would work again or not.