Raise the count by 20,000 votes per seat, Amit Shah advised Bengal BJP cadre and leaders at a strategy meet, sources have told NDTV.
The task is for the 142 seats in the second phase of the Bengal polls. The voting is on April 29.
The directive, said sources, follows a detailed assessment of the political and organisational situation on the ground.
According to sources present in the meeting, the 20,000-vote benchmark has been worked out based on previous election margins, booth-wise performance in 2021 and 2024, and internal assessments of swing voters.
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"The idea is to create a cushion over past margins. In many seats, victory or defeat was decided by 10,000 to 15,000 votes. The 20,000 figure is being seen as a safe winning buffer," a senior leader who attended the meeting, but did not wish to be named, told NDTV.
The strategy session, which lasted over five hours, was attended by in-charges, pravasi karyakartas and party workers from 13 districts across five organisational divisions. Discussions centred on sharpening campaign messaging and strengthening coordination between local units and the central leadership.
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During the meeting, Shah reviewed feedback from every constituency that will vote in the second phase, focusing on booth-level management, outreach efforts, and voter mobilisation strategies.
The aggressive strategy comes as part of Amit Shah's extended stay in the state. He had earlier announced he would camp in West Bengal for around 15 days during the election period.
During his stay in the state, Shah has held night halts across all five organisational divisions to directly monitor ground operations.
The Home Minister focused heavily on North Bengal constituencies, a region where the BJP has traditionally performed strongly.
He has addressed rallies in districts like Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar, sharpening outreach to key communities, combining campaign messaging with organisational reviews, blending political messaging with booth-level audits.
The BJP is going all-out to win Bengal from the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.
In 2014, when the Congress, Left, Trinamool and BJP fought separately, the BJP's vote share jumped from around four per cent to 17 per cent. In 2016, when the Congress and Left forged an alliance, the BJP's rise stalled. But, after that understanding collapsed in 2019, the BJP surged to nearly 40 per cent.
The poll battle has seen sharp exchanges between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP. Congress and CPI-M, allies in the last assembly polls, are fighting separately.
"People who want change no longer see the Congress or the Left as serious alternatives. In most seats, the BJP is now the only credible challenger to the TMC," BJP leader Debjit Sarkar told news agency PTI.
