The ruling Samajwadi party, which is gearing up for the panchayat election, has decided to contest the polls on party symbol and has asked party workers to popularize the achievements of the state government across villages.
Senior party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav said here that the party leadership is of the view the Samajwadi Party should contest the next panchayat elections on the party symbol “as it helps us to evaluate party’s strength at the village level”. The final call on this regard would be taken by party’s national president Mulayam Singh Yadav, he said.
This seems a shrewd political move as generally ruling party has an upper hand in the Panchayat elections. As the electoral college in this election is very small it is easy to motivate them. If SP can win majority of Gram Sabhas it would be helpful in 2017 assembly polls. In West Bengal the ruling Trinamool Congress contested election on party symbol and got a rich dividend.
“Generally, Panchayat elections are not contested on the party symbols. But we will request the state election commission not to give cycle symbol to any other candidate other than of Samajwadi Party,” Yadav said.
The party has asked its frontal organization to start campaigning. The party leaders will take out a cycle yatra from August 1 to 15 where they will visit all the villages. The members of lohia Vahini, Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha and Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade have been asked to go to villages and popularize the policies of the Akhilesh Yadav Government.
“The youths played an instrumental role in victory of Samajwadi Party in 2012 assembly elections. We want youth to play the same role. They have to go to villages to tell people about the development schemes the government has launched for them. They have been given talking points like introduction of Samajwadi Pension scheme, lohia Awas Yojana and construction of roads to connect villages with highways,” he said.
The party has also decided to use digital vans fitted with big screens where achievements of the government would be displayed. These vans would tour all the village panchayats. “The vans will start touring from first week of August,” he said.