Congress to hold election town halls in Delhi, says interim chief Devender Yadav

New Delhi, May 13 (PTI) Congress' interim Delhi chief Devender Yadav on Monday said the party will hold around five to seven town halls in the national capital ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has agreed to address one of the Town Hall meetings, he said.

Polling for the national capital's seven seats will be held in the sixth phase on May 25.

The town hall will be organised to discuss people's issues such as price rise, unemployment, GST, pollution, women's safety and security, resettlement and unauthorised colonies in every Lok Sabha constituency and to find solutions, Yadav said.

A call centre has also been set up with teams of 70 volunteers each for every Lok Sabha constituency to provide information about functioning of the booth committees.

"One town hall and two to three roadshows and rallies will be held after May 19 in which senior leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are likely to take part. We will try to hold a rally led by Rahul Gandhi before May 19," a senior party functionary in Delhi said.

The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee has also set up war rooms for its three candidates at its state headquarters.

It said the war rooms will have two roles -- coordinating with booth-level agents and workers and enhancing the reach of the candidates through social media.

A war room functionary said they have also come up with the "Rahul ji sahi hai" slogan for the elections.

"We contact local workers daily and tell them the schedule and programmes of the candidate. We also talk to them and get raw feedback. We provide them social media posts regarding the candidate so that they can make those viral," he said.

The Congress' campaign for the elections has reached a crescendo in Delhi with party workers and leaders mounting an aggressive outreach programme to cover all sections of people. The party is sparing no effort to win all seven seats, being contested in an alliance with its INDIA bloc partner, in Delhi with thumping margins, he said.

Under a seat-share arrangement, INDIA bloc constituents the Congress has fielded candidates from three seats while AAP is contesting from four.

Yadav said workers of the Congress and its INDIA bloc partner have been campaigning with complete coordination.

Booth-level agents (BLA) are being trained in each of Delhi's 13,630 booths to ensure that all voters come out to cast their votes and elect the Congress and INDIA bloc candidates, he said.

The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee control room has formed separate teams to train BLAs and the process will be completed in all assembly segments in the next five days, Yadav said.

The control room has formed a team of 15 volunteers each in the three Lok Sabha constituencies the party has fielded its candidate to identify and scrutinise BLAs for booth management training and oversee their activities in publicising the Congress' five 'nyay (justice)' and 25 guarantees, and distribute the guarantee cards door-to-door, he said.

Party workers have been particularly targeting first-time voters and the party's promises in the manifesto will give them the assurance of a bright future if they vote for the Congress and INDIA bloc candidates, he said.

Yadav had said on Sunday that workers were identified, shortlisted and screened before being picked for BLA-2 training at the polling booth level for the elections.

BLAs are appointed for specific polling station areas by recognised political parties to complement the Booth Level Officers (BLO) of the respective polling stations. PTI NIT SZM