BJP Targets Schedule Caste Vote Bank

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PATHANKOT – The Punjab BJP, by recommending the name of Bhoa (reserved) legislator Seema Kumari as Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS), has gained a strong hold on the Scheduled Caste vote bank.

Political observers claim that this development in the election year is sure to pay dividends in the district where every elected body — from MLAs to the MCs and zila parishads — is controlled by the BJP.

District BJP president, Anil Rampal, admitted that the SC vote bank had been taken care of by her elevation.

“This vote bank was traditionally eyed by the Congress. In the 2009 parliamentary elections, Congress candidate Partap Singh Bajwa rode to victory on this vote bank. However in the 2014 elections, SC voters, dismayed with Bajwa’s performance -– as he could not bring any big ticket industrial project to the city which could have removed unemployment to a great extent — decided to back Vinod Khanna. As a result, Khanna’s winning margin increased to a whopping 1.36 lakh votes.

“Apart from the legislator’s elevation, the state government — on the recommendation of the BJP — is all set to announce more sops for SCs,” he said.

Pathankot district has three Assembly seats — Sujanpur, Pathankot and Bhoa — and all are represented by BJP legislators. The party has played a masterstroke by not only ensuring that the SC vote bank gets into their kitty, but it has also made sure that the BJP is strengthened in the entire district.

The Pathankot Municipal Corporation (MC) is headed by a BJP man, Anil Vasudeva. The BJP has 31 councillors in the 50-member House. Likewise in neighbouring Sujanpur, the Municipal Committee is controlled by the BJP. The Pathankot zila parishad, which has 10 seats out of which nine are represented by the BJP, is headed by Goverdhan Gopal, another BJP man.