In the second stage of organisational polls, division-level elections began in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttar Pradesh unit on Sunday to elect local level leaders through ballot.

In the first phase, booth level elections were held and the lists of elected candidates were handed over to the returning officer for organisational polls, Ashutosh Tandon, on September 30 last.

In the BJP’s organisational structure, there are 1.63 lakh booths out of which elections were completed in 1.49 lakh booths between September 18 and 24.

“BJP is not only the biggest political party of the world but also the only party which believes in democracy. The elections start from ground zero and reach the top level, thus giving equal opportunities to all leaders to showcase their leadership qualities,” Tandon said here.

Tandon said that organisational elections in the party were being held at the right time.

“The booth level elections are complete and now we have started division level elections. There is tremendous enthusiasm among leaders for these elections,” he said.

A senior party functionary said that organisational elections were held in a transparent manner.

“A war room has been set up at the party headquarters where region-wise monitoring is being done and updates are flashed digitally,” he said.

The elections in the party began after the BJP carried out an enrolment drive in which 50 lakh new members were enrolled.

BJP’s organisation secretary Sunil Bansal said that this time the party had been able to make members even at booths where it lost elections on regular basis.

“The high point is that the party has been able to make 60-70 per cent of members in those booths,” he said.