New Delhi:
With 2019 Lok Sabha Elections around the corner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has unveiled its slogan - ‘Abki Baar 400 Paar’. The BJP has formed a campaign committee for upcoming General Elections which has released a poster carrying a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with a slogan ‘Abki Baar 400 Paar’.
According to reports, a campaign committee meeting is scheduled for February 3, during which some more slogans are expected to be unveiled by the ruling party at the Centre.
During the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP had used the slogan 'Acche Din Aane Wale Hain' and it became an instant hit and it helped the party to win 282 seats on its own.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had won 336 seats in the 2014 General Elections. It wants to increase this tally to 400 this time and that is why party president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have started addressing rallies in different parts of the country.
For last General Elections, the BJP had used slogan - 'Abki Baar Modi Sarkaar' which was inspired by late prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 1996 campaign tagline 'Abki Baari Atal Bihari'. The slogan was used by BJP in all its outdoor hoarding, radio campaigns, and television commercials. The ad was designed by celebrated admen Piyush Pandey, executive chairman of Ogilvy & Mather and the creative team of the agency’s subsidiary Soho Square.
It must be noted that in the history of independent India, it is only once when a party managed to cross the magic figure of 400. In 1984 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, her son Rajiv Gandhi got 414 seats with 48 per cent vote share.
The schedule for Lok Sabha elections is likely to be announced in the first week of March, sources indicated on Friday. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 3.
There is a possibility that the Election Commission may go by precedent and hold assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh along with the Lok Sabha polls.
In 2014, the EC had announced the election schedule on March 5 and the nine-phase electoral exercise was spread across April and May.
In 2009, the EC had announced Lok Sabha poll scheduled on March 2. The five-phase polls began on April 16 and ended on May 13.
In 2004, the Election Commission had announced four-phase Lok Sabha polls on February 29. While the first date of the poll was April 20, the last date was May 10.
