BJP corporators register 20,000-22,000 graduate voters in 3 days after fund warning
Faced with a warning that DPC funds for their areas would be withheld, BJP corporators in Nagpur enrolled about 20,000 to 22,000 graduate voters in the last three days.
For the Nagpur Legislative Council graduates' constituency election, the BJP had set its corporators a target of enrolling as many voters as possible. Barring a few, most paid little attention. The party had asked all corporators and office-bearers to enrol at least 100 voters each, but the instructions were not taken seriously.
According to information available, when senior leaders warned that corporators who fell short would not be given DPC funds for development in their areas, everyone got down to work in the final phase. As a result, corporators enrolled around 20,000 to 22,000 graduate voters in the last three days alone.
City president Dayashankar Tiwari said the party enrolled about 20,000 to 22,000 voters in Nagpur city in the last three days. According to him, about 90,000 voters have been enrolled in the city so far.
In the previous election, Congress's Abhijit Wanjari had wrested the seat from the BJP, which had held it before that. The defeat was attributed to negligence in getting voters enrolled. This time the BJP therefore took care and pushed enrolment. Party office-bearers and workers took up the task under Tiwari's leadership. After the municipal corporation election held in January, corporators too had been given responsibility for voter enrolment. Even so, they did not take the party's instructions seriously, and the party could not reach the expected figure. In the end, the warning of withholding funds worked and all the corporators became active.
According to information available, Standing Committee chairperson Shivani Dani handed the party about 1,000 applications. Vicky Kukreja enrolled about 300 voters. Except for 6 corporators, all the rest are said to have enrolled more than 50 voters. Some corporators enrolled 40 to 50 voters, while 6 corporators could not reach even this mark.
Enrolment in the final phase is marked by crowds and disorder. With this in mind, the BJP deployed an independent team of 100 people from outside the party, with whose help the enrolment process picked up speed. Whether corporators who failed this test will be given funds is said likely to be decided after the election.
