BJP’s UP poll blueprint: Fresh faces, joint decision-making and winnability

New Delhi: The BJP usually denies tickets to a section of its sitting MLAs in assembly elections. However, in the case of Uttar Pradesh, it plans to push the figure to about 50% for the upcoming polls, from nearly 30% in the 2022 election, to ensure a wider representation of dedicated youth, women and general cadre members, according to people familiar with the matter.

After two terms in the government, the party is bound to face some anti-incumbency against sitting MLAs, they said, adding that currently feedback is being collected in each assembly constituency. If the internal feedback and surveys indicate anti-incumbency against even senior leaders and MLAs who have been winning for more than two terms, the party will not hesitate to deny them tickets.

The BJP has 255 out of 403 MLAs in UP.

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The combined leadership will be responsible for deciding the tickets and the process will be based on survey reports, with winnability as the key criterion.

During the review of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, in which the BJP won 33 seats in UP, down from 62 in 2019, the party found that one of the reasons for the setback was not replacing more candidates. After winning 62 seats in 2019, the party won two more seats, Azamgarh and Rampur, in bypolls. One BJP MP from Hathras, Rajveer Singh Diler, passed away in April 2024, just before the Lok Sabha polls. Out of the 63 sitting MPs, the BJP denied tickets to 16 MPs.
The party doesn’t want to commit the same mistake in the 2027 assembly polls, said the people cited earlier.