In Dharamsala, candidates go door-to-door to meet voters

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, April 6

With polling for the Dharamsala MC poll scheduled for tomorrow, political parties were busy in booth-level management today. Candidates contesting the elections, along with their supporters, visited voters to hand over the voting slips that carry information regarding their polling booths.

The political parties were also setting up tents near the booths. The BJP claims to have mastered the booth-level management in Himachal. The ‘Panna Pramukh’ model was being implemented by the party all over the country.

Panna means one page carrying the names of voters. The Himachal BJP has created the post of Panna Pramukh, which means a party worker who manages the voters listed on a Panna. The party has credited its win in the last assembly and parliamentary polls to the effective management by Panna Pramukhs.

The Congress was not working as a unit in the MC poll in Dharamsala. Instead of the party, workers owe loyalty to leaders. While a section of the candidates owe loyalty of Sudhir Sharma, others are with former Mayor Davinder Jaggi. In most of the cases, Congress candidates were managing their polling booths with senior leaders just being visitors.

Besides the BJP and the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded nine candidates. The campaigning by AAP candidates was low key. None of the senior AAP leaders visited Dharamsala to campaign for the party candidates.

There are 43 Independents in the fray, giving tough time to candidates of mainstream parties. The Independents include 14 rebels of the BJP and five of the Congress. In Dharamsala, polling will be held for 17 wards. The Congress had 14 seats while the BJP had just three councillors.