Haryana BJP to contest municipal polls on party symbol: CM Saini
The decision came as the party’s top leadership in Haryana held a series of marathon meetings to fine-tune its electoral strategy and strengthen what it calls a “triple-engine” government, aligning governance at the Central, state, and local levels.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will contest the upcoming municipal corporation and municipal council elections on its party symbol, chief minister Nayab Singh Saini announced on Wednesday.
The decision came as the party’s top leadership in Haryana held a series of marathon meetings to fine-tune its electoral strategy and strengthen what it calls a “triple-engine” government, aligning governance at the Central, state, and local levels.
The BJP held two high-level meetings on Wednesday to strategise for the elections, a day after Haryana State Election Commission (SEC) announced the election schedule.
The first meeting, hosted at the CM’s residence, was attended by MLAs, district presidents, ministers, district in-charges, and state office bearers. Later, at the BJP office in Panchkula, the core group finalised key electoral decisions.
The Haryana SEC on Tuesday announced that general elections will be held on March 2 in seven out of 11 municipal corporations, four out of 22 municipal councils, and 21 municipal committees across the state, setting the stage for a crucial electoral battle. The polling for Panipat Municipal Corporation will be held on March 9 and the counting of votes of all the MCs, including Panipat, councils and other committees will be held on March 12.
After the core group meeting in which top leaders deliberated on local body elections and organisational matters, CM Saini confirmed that the BJP would field candidates for the municipal corporation and council elections on the party symbol.
“Chief minister Nayab Singh Saini has said that the party has invited applications from prospective candidates,” a BJP spokesperson said in a statement.
The party said that with the nomination process set to begin on February 11, the BJP will form a special committee to visit districts, gather candidate names, and finalise selections through the state core committee. The party also discussed election campaign strategies, public outreach plans, and manifesto preparation. It was decided to set up district election committees, an election manifesto committee, and an election management committee.
The chief minister said that senior leaders, including ministers, MLAs, MPs, Union ministers, and former candidates, will play an active role in the campaign to secure a decisive victory.
“ A triple-engine government will drive Haryana towards unprecedented development,” Saini said.
Haryana BJP’s State in-charge Satish Poonia expressed confidence in the party’s poll prospects, reiterating that municipal corporation and council elections would be fought on the BJP symbol. However, he noted that discussions were still underway on whether to contest municipal committee elections on the party symbol as well. Poonia said that the party would release separate manifestos tailored to different municipal corporations.
He said district presidents and in-charges have been tasked with collecting candidate applications. On February 6 and 7, committees will meet at district BJP offices, followed by district core committee meetings on February 8 to shortlist candidates. The final list will be sent to the state committee for review on February 9.
The core group meeting saw the participation of several senior BJP leaders, including CM Saini, BJP state in-charge Satish Poonia, Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP State president Mohan Lal Badoli, and national secretary Om Prakash Dhankhar.
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