Kolkata, June 10: With the apprehension that the party might not be able to field candidates in all the 75,000 seats in the three-tier panchayat in West Bengal, the state unit of BJP is adopting a new campaign strategy for the June 8 rural civic body polls.

"If there is no candidate from any registered political party for a particular seat, then our plea will be to vote for the strongest independent candidate," said a member of the state committee of BJP. West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2023: Three-Tier Polls To Be Held on July 8, Last Day for Filing Nominations Is June 15.

He admitted that this strategy is in line with the recent call given by the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Suvendu Adhikari where the focus is "no vote to Trinamool".

Adhikari's belief is that Trinamool Congress's success in the 2021 Assembly polls was to an extent contributed by "no vote to BJP". His belief is also that once the ordinary voters are pursued and convinced on this "no vote to Trinamool Congress" campaign- line, BJP as the strongest opposition party in West Bengal now will be the automatic choice in most cases.

Meanwhile, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar has said that in the campaign for the upcoming polls the focus will be more on door-to-door campaign and small street-corner meetings rather than big rallies considering the limited time of campaign before the polls.

Meanwhile, the state committee leader of BJP said that corruption issued against the state government and ruling party leaders will be the main subject of campaign for the rural civic body polls. ‘Don’t Want Rejected Leaders’: West Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari on TMC Leader Mukul Roy’s Desire To Rejoin BJP.

"We are keeping our legal teams ready with the apprehension of massive violence unleashed by the ruling party during the nomination, pre-poll days, polling day and on the day of counting, so that appropriate courts can be approached urgently whenever required," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Sukanta Majumdar met the West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Saturday and elaborated him about the violence being unleashed already since the poll dates were announced. Seeking the Governor's intervention for ensuring free and fair polls, the state BJP president also handed over a deputation to him.

Besides appealing to ensure central armed forces security cover for the polls, Majumdar also requested the governor to ensure that contractual workers, teaching and non-teaching staff whose appointments are sub-justice before the courts, should not be deployed for election duty. He also urged that CCTVs should be installed at all sensitive and relevant locations to boost public confidence.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 10, 2023 03:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).