Political parties must track the performance record of leaders at the grassroots levels, and give tickets to the deserving. Non-performers must be shut out

The BJP faced an uphill task while distributing tickets to candidates for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. Party president Amit Shah said the party had to see the candidates' capacity to win the election. Many party insiders who have worked for the BJP for long were dissatisfied with the decision. Amit Shah said he preferred winnable candidates to the BJP's existing non-performing candidates. This looks like a balancing act. If a BJP leader does not perform in his locality, he becomes a liability for the party.

Under this situation, Amit Shah is not to be blamed. The blame goes to certain candidates who seldom work to develop their respective constituencies and heavily depend on central leaders to win elections. No political party should distribute tickets to non-performing candidates.

Every constituency has many local issues which should be understood by the aspiring candidates. Politics is not a profession to show off your kurta pyjama properly ironed, hair blackened and the skin neatly massaged. Here, the leader has to live amid the heat and dust of Indian politics. He has to struggle to mitigate social deprivation, hunger and unemployment. He has to learn how to protect the interest of the general public. If a leader cannot improve the living conditions of the people in his locality, he should not be given party tickets. 

There are hundreds of issues for local leaders of the BJP which can propel them to popularity.  Nobody can deny a ticket to a popular leader.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given enough hints to the young BJP leaders. His ‘Beti Padhao Beti Bachao’ campaign is one of the most vibrant social issues before the country. Had the leaders taken up this issue in their area with sincerity and purpose, they would have become popular. The cleanliness drive is another powerful subject which has haunted Indians for decades. Had the local leaders worked to clean their temples, wells, ponds, schools, hospitals and bus stops etc, they would have been much in demand by now.

A popular leader does not bother about tickets. He can win election independently if he had contributed to visible development in his area. The other name of politics is seva and politicians are jan sevaks.  If the jan sevak is on the right path, nobody can stop him from winning an election. If he deviates from the path, the people’s opinion against him gathers strength and nobody knows when it becomes a storm and when the fall will happen.

In the digital age nobody can cheat the voters, as voters can read the heartbeat of politicians and tell whether the leader is genuine or a fraud. The 2014 lok Sabha election wiped out the lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati cult. It happened because the Congress Government was soaked in series of scams and the regional satraps were non-performing.  From 2017 onward, it is a different time which will test the leader's ability to perform. If the leader cannot perform he or she is bound to perish in the digital age, which records every gesture of the political leader.

BJP President Amit Shah has to maintain the standard of BJP as a party with a difference. This may not hold true if there is an influx of non-BJP leaders into the cadre-based party.

The best solution for the BJP is to monitor the performance graph of its cadre-based leaders. Satellite image can be taken to judge the leaders' performance in developing irrigation and other infrastructure facilities in his areas. The imagery can be used to know whether he has done something to improve the cleanliness of schools and hospitals.  The leaders' performance can be judged from the local employment exchange and human development index of the people.

One can judge them from crime graphs, productivity level and inclusive growth parameters. The candidates can be also be judged on the basis of the performance of various development programmes of the Government and end use of credit flow. A candidate's popularity can be checked on the basis of the people's participation in his public meeting. All political parties should follow this method of distributing tickets on the basis of performance

The year 2019 will be tough for political parties. The curse of a hung Parliament will be worse than anything.

(The writer is a freelance commentator)