Patna, Sep 25 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced its election in-charge for the poll-bound Bihar, thereby setting in motion its electoral preparations in the state, slated to go to polls by the end of the year.

Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan has been made the BJP’s election in-charge in Bihar, while Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will serve as the Deputy election-in-charges.

The announcement was made by BJP President J.P. Nadda. A party notification signed by BJP national secretary Arun Singh said that the appointment comes into force, with immediate effect.

Notably, the NDA-ruled Bihar is heading to polls towards the end of the year, most probably in November. Some unconfirmed reports have also suggested announcement of poll dates by the Election Commission of India, sometime between Dussehra and Diwali.

The poll-bound state is set to witness a high-stakes battle between the BJP-led NDA and the Grand Alliance (Congress-RJD-Left). The two alliances have already sharpened their pitch and are augmenting their public outreach to outmanoeuvre each other.

With Dharmendra Pradhan taking charge of the BJP’s electoral preparations, it shows that the party has relied on his deep understanding of the electoral landscape of Odisha and Eastern India.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya’s experience will also be crucial in tilting the scales in the party’s favour in upcoming elections, while C.R. Patil’s disciplined and organised workstyle is expected to give strength to the party’s election management.

Bihar’s electoral outcome will be watched keenly by the parties as well as poll analysts, as this is apparently the first election after the Congress-led Opposition’s ‘vote chori’ claims, a charge that has seen national resonance. The grand old party is banking heavily on this to dent the BJP’s prospects, while the latter is preparing to bring the Opposition to the mat, to blunt the ‘frivolous and false’ charges.

–IANS

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