Ensure 90% vote share for BJP, Congress candidates should lose deposits: Paatil

Setting out similar goals for booth workers in Surat, Anand and Kheda Lok Sabha seats, Paatil explained the math behind the BJP’s vote-share target for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Expressing anguish at losing 26 Assembly seats by a thin margin in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly polls, Paatil administered a pledge to the booth workers to have a “winning mindset and ensure the Congress candidates do not return to fetch their deposits”.

મહેસાણા છે તૈયાર
હવે તો નક્કી છે 400 પાર….

આજે મહેસાણા ખાતે બૂથ પ્રમુખ સંમેલનમાં ખૂબ મોટી સંખ્યામાં ઉપસ્થિત રહેલા કાર્યકર્તાશ્રીઓને માર્ગદર્શન પાઠવ્યું અને લોકસભાની ચૂંટણીમાં છવ્વીસમાંથી છવ્વીસ બેઠકોને પાંચ લાખથી વધુની લીડ સાથે જીતવા આહવાન કર્યું.

ભારતીય જનતા પાર્ટીનાં મારા… pic.twitter.com/ZtM4yLyaRm

— C R Paatil (Modi Ka Parivar) (@CRPaatil) April 4, 2024

“We do not give tickets to any MLAs only to lose but we lost 26 seats… In 2022, AAP got 40 lakh votes and Congress got 80 lakh, while the BJP had a total of 1.68 crore votes. That is 86 lakh more votes than Congress and 1.28 crore more votes than the AAP… We fell short by 3.05 lakh votes… We have a total of 1.13 lakh primary members and 74 lakh verified page committee members whose task is to ensure that each member of the family votes for the party and then also build a rapport with other voters. Even if we do a simple math of thrice the number of 74 lakh, we have 2.22 crore votes from our own families. The Congress candidates should not have to return to collect their deposits,” Paatil said.

At Kheda, Paatil handed out five tasks to the party workers for the BJP Foundation Day on Saturday. “Each page pramukh must visit the 10 families that he or she is responsible for and hand over a (party) flag, urging them to hoist it on their roof… You also need to connect with people aged above 85 years as well as the physically challenged persons and ensure that the District Election department has made a note to provide the facility to cast the vote from their home. You must also meet beneficiaries of government schemes again and again, and remind them about each scheme they have benefitted from… By doing this, you will achieve the target of 90 per cent voter turnout and 90 per cent vote share for the BJP,” he said.

Addressing a meeting of booth presidents and page pramukhs in Surat city on Wednesday night, Paatil insisted that the workers should lay emphasis on “negative areas” — where the BJP does not get votes — and voters registered in more than one Lok Sabha constituency. “The page pramukh and booth pramukhs should work on negative areas and try to convert it to positive and use connections of the BJP leaders to convince them… There are a total 2.5 lakh double voters registered at two places in Surat and Navsari Lok Sabha seats. The details of these voters will be shared and the booth workers must contact these voters and guide them to get their names deleted from one of the Lok Sabha seats.”

He added that the voters should also be made aware that it is an offence to keep the names registered at two seats. “If such a voter is found at the booths on the polling day, stop and check three different identity proofs before allowing them to cast their vote. If he denies or makes any ruckus, immediately intimate election officials.”
Attacking the Congress, Paatil said, “The current political environment is in favour of the BJP. We should take maximum advantage of it and make history in the upcoming elections. The Congress workers are not willing to contest against BJP candidates. The Congress top leaders are struggling to get candidates and even they are pressuring the leaders to fight the elections”.

While handing out the responsibility of their respective Assembly seats to the elected MLAs, Paatil also administered a pledge, stating “I am born to win”, to the booth workers and urged them to “be ambitious”. “Once you perform at your booth levels, would you not aspire for tickets from the party? What levels do you want to contest — taluka, district, civic bodies, MLAs or MPs… because no MP has a life-term membership,” he said.