Hubballi: Aspirants for zilla and taluk panchayat seats are actively campaigning for BJP and Congress candidates in the MLC elections, hoping to earn political credit ahead of local body polls likely to be held in Jan.
With each ZP constituency having around 500-600 voters, the campaign is relatively inexpensive, he said. Because other elected representatives and party workers showed little interest in the MLC campaign, a BJP district office-bearer from Kalyana Karnataka said ZP and TP aspirants were roped in.
Congress MLC FH Jakkappanavar said the proposed ZP and TP elections have enthused aspirants, who are using the MLC polls as a springboard. Their involvement is helping parties personally reach voters who earlier received only letters from candidates, while also giving party leaders an opportunity to assess the aspirants’ abilities, he said. BJP functionary Mahesh Angadi of Koppal said every ZP or TP constituency has at least five aspirants. A Congress district president from North Karnataka, who did not wish to be named, said district presidents have been tasked with engaging aspirants by holding out the prospect of tickets. Competition is particularly intense in Congress as the party has more MLAs and other elected representatives across districts, he said. State leaders had warned district units that booth-level campaigning was lagging and asked them to deploy the aspirants, he said.
They are personally contacting teacher voters and posting photographs of their campaign activities on party platforms. However, the strategy carries risks as tickets cannot be given to everyone, potentially leaving unsuccessful aspirants disgruntled.