Uttar Pradesh: In 'tech-tonic' shift, BJP to mine data at booth level

LUCKNOW: The party with a difference has decided to do it differently this time. In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP will go digital to bolster its organisational network and strategise its poll campaign.
An application, named ‘Saral’, will be used by the party ranks to upload electoral data from two categories of booths – the ones the BJP lost by a thin margin and those it never won.
Developed by the party’s IT cell, the application will allow the central leadership to monitor and analyse the grassroots data uploaded by the booth-level workers in real time – giving the BJP an edge over its rivals in booth management.
According to sources, the party will primarily focus on 35,000-40,000 booths – of the total 1.75 lakh booths across the state – where it didn’t perform well in the past few polls.
Each MP (both of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) will take care of 200 booths while an MLA has been allocated 50 booths to collate the data and feed it into the mobile app. According to the insiders, the MPs and MLAs have been asked to collate and upload the data from ‘weaker’ booths under the following heads: Reasons for the party’s poor show, the demographic profile of the booth and influential residents whose appeal can be of electoral use.
Sources said that the public representatives have also been asked to step up dialogue with an array of communities, including Dalits, MBCs and minorities, to allay their fears and address their concerns.
Experts said the booth-level data mining could help the party understand the ground-level political situation and strategise accordingly. Sources also said the party is going to deploy ‘man-to-man marking’ – a soccer strategy where each player is assigned to defend and follow the movements of a single player on offence – to take on its rivals.
A senior BJP leader said that following the party’s national executive in Telangana, the exercise may gain momentum in Uttar Pradesh particularly where the BJP has set a target of winning 75-plus seats in the 2024 polls.