BJP’s success in winning 18 constituencies in West Bengal and eight in Odisha in the recent Lok Sabha polls was the result of micro-level planning by party president Amit Shah. The BJP chief ’s emphasis on ensuring his party presence in every booth has now become a model strategy for other political parties. 

Shah launched a programme that he had devised almost two years ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, on April 25, 2017. Called the Deendayal Upadhyay Vistarak Yojna, Shah invited his cadre to take up the role of party ‘vistaraks’ (expansionists) by visiting assigned booths and let people know about BJP’s ideology and policies for a year, six months or at least 15 days. 

More than 2.7 lakh party workers joined the programme. To motivate party workers, Shah too became a short-term vistarak in West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, Telangana and Lakhsadweep. He started the campaign from booth no. 93 of Darjeeling’s Naxalbari block in West Bengal. Shah visited six households in the Naxalbari block and interacted with families. He made sure that the BJP booth president, district president and state president were present during the campaign.