The BJP has called a meeting of all 68 of its candidates on Sunday, ahead of the counting of votes on December 8 and with pollsters predicting an unclear verdict for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections.
The meeting, which is scheduled to take place in Dharamshala, will review voting and postal ballot trends besides analysing candidates’ prospects as well as post-verdict scenarios. Besides the 68 candidates, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, BJP state incharge Avinash Rai Khanna, co-incharge Sanjay Tandon, BJP national vice-president (HP incharge) Saudan Singh, and state BJP president Suresh Kashyap will also attend the meeting.
Though pollsters have predicted a tight finish, the BJP leadership was not expecting as many rebel candidates to make an impact barring a few seats. “No matter how much the Independents draw a good clout, ultimately, the voters have gone with a party that would provide stability,” said a BJP leader.
The BJP leadership has rejected predictions that the elections could go down to the wire. “We are planning pre-result strategy meetings to prepare ahead and keep post-results strategies ready. We don’t foresee any hung assembly,” the leader added.
Notwithstanding, the BJP claimed that the Independents were likely to emerge key players in the event there was a close finish. But the saffron party is hoping for postal ballots to favour their candidates.
The senior leaders are expected to seek reports from the candidates on challenges they encountered in the elections, gaps they identified, voting trends and their own assessment of each seat.
In the run-up to the assembly elections, the BJP was jolted by rebellion within its ranks. Defying the party diktat not to contest polls against official BJP candidates, some leaders fought independently after being denied tickets. The party faced rebel candidates in the crucial Mandi area, home district of the chief minister.
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