"Booth Chalo Abhiyaan" focuses on fair elections: UP BJP

Apparently, in a bid to identify its prospective voters rather early in the run-upto 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has embarked on 'Booth Chalo Abhiyaan' (lets go to the polling booth) in the state.

UP BJP leaders are also of the view that the campaign may help the party to identify the "unauthorised voters" including Rohingyas and those from Bangladesh.

The Booth Chalo Abhiyaan started on October 5 and continued till October 10, UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said.

Elaborating about the campaign, Shukla told PTI: "The Booth Chalo Abhiyaan revolves primarily on three issues – youngsters turning 18 on January 1, 2019, should be made voters, names of all the unauthorised persons (including Rohingyas and others who have illegally entered India) be deleted from the voters list and correction of names of voters in the voter list be carried out ."

He further added: "If the names of unauthorised persons are in the voters' list they will be cut including of Rohingyas and those from Bangladesh. The party workers are alert on each and every booth."

When asked to explain the party's stand on Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists who have fled from their respective countries in the neighbourhood (such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) and come to India, the UP BJP spokesman said, "We consider them as refugees, and not as infiltrators.

"We will not drive them out of India since they had already faced hardships (in those countries) and came to India. But, each and every infiltrator will be pushed out of India. In fact, the infiltrators had been getting facilities at the cost of our citizens, and we will not allow this to happen."

BJP president Amit Shah had, in a public meeting, said that Bangladeshi migrants are like "termites" and each one of them will be sent out of the country.

Apart from this, work is going on for renewal of booth committees, ensuring that at least two women members are part of it and all sections of the society get adequate representation in the booth committees, Shukla said.

"Efforts are also being made to ensure that five members of the booth committees are smartphone users. This will enable the party to ensure that information regarding various welfare schemes of the Centre and state government reach the public.

" Apart from this, it will also help the party to do a reality check of the schemes and whether it is reaching the target beneficiaries or not," the UP BJP spokesperson added.