New DelhiOctober 8, 2025 11:31 AM IST
First published on: Oct 8, 2025 at 11:31 AM IST
The BJP has identified around 12,000 “weak” polling booths in Bihar, including those where the party was not able to open its account, seeking to add what it possibly can to its share of the electoral pie this time around.
The majority of these “weak” booths are located in areas where Muslim voters outnumber those from other communities, sources said. The BJP Minority Morcha has been instructed to deploy dedicated teams of volunteers to these booths where they will talk about the success of centrally sponsored welfare schemes and seek the “aashirwad (blessings)” of the voters.
“Around 10 to 20 volunteers have been identified for each of these 12,000 booths. Every volunteer has been given a target of ensuring at least one to two votes. This may translate to just 100 to 200 votes per booth but that too will be a start compared to zero vote in the 2020 Assembly elections,” a senior BJP leader said.
Though the leader did not disclose the details of the booths which have been identified out of the total 90,712 in Bihar, citing tactical concerns related to the NDA’s campaign, sources said they were mostly located in the constituencies falling under Araria, Purnea, Katihar and Kishanganj districts, which constitute the Seemanchal region that has a sizeable Muslim population.
“This support is not being sought in the name of anything else but in favour of a reciprocal relationship. We worked hard to ensure that citizens residing in these areas got the benefits of both state and centrally sponsored welfare schemes over the last five years. All we are asking for now is that they bless us with their votes in return,” the leader said.
According to sources, BJP Minority Morcha president Jamal Siddiqui is personally monitoring the initiative, which will see less of “big events” and concentrate mainly on a “person-to-person” and door-to-door outreach aimed at communicating the benefits which have been provided to the average voter in these areas under the NDA government.
“Our governments (in the state and at the Centre) are not formed for a particular family, for jungle raj, but for the people and by the people. The confusion which the Opposition is trying to spread will not succeed because the jungle and goonda raj in Bihar under (RJD chief) Lalu Prasad was known across the world,” Siddiqui said.
“In the same Bihar, half of whose population had migrated during those dark days, new industries are being established to provide employment. I can say with certainty that the people of Bihar are looking forward to giving another five-year licence for sushasan (good governance) to PM (Narendra) Modi and (CM) Nitish Kumar-led NDA,” he said.
Seat-sharing talks
Senior BJP leaders, including the party’s Bihar polls in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, held talks with LJP (RV) president Chirag Paswan on Tuesday over the regional party’s share of seats in the Assembly elections. Paswan’s party is keen on certain constituencies seen to be friendlier to their prospects and has asked for being allotted a couple of Assembly seats in each of the five Lok Sabha constituencies it had won in 2024, sources said.
Pradhan was accompanied by BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, who is the party’s organisational in-charge for Bihar, and Mangal Pandey, a minister in the state government.
Apart from LJP (RV), other BJP allies are Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi-led HAM (Secular) and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha besides Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), which enjoys parity with the BJP in the ruling coalition in Bihar in terms of seats. Pradhan had earlier met other allies during his recent visit to Bihar.