Guwahati, Sep 19 (IANS): After losing the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat, the BJP has set an ambitious target to register 60 lakh members in upper Assam.

The upper Assam area - primarily dominated by Hindu voters - is considered to be the stronghold of the BJP of which Jorhat Lok Sabha seat is a part where Congress candidate Gaurav Gogoi won the Lok Sabha constituency.

BJP top leadership in the state is expecting that they will get a good response in the upper Assam region including the areas under Jorhat parliamentary constituency.

However, until now, the figures are not very impressive for the party in upper Assam regions, especially in the Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency.

The party is facing resentment in various pockets of the area especially which falls in parts of the Jorhat constituency.

“We have been getting excellent responses in different corners of the state. The membership drive has been going very well in the Barak Valley region, Kamrup district and upper Assam area. However, we have seen a little low response in Dhubri and Bodoland area,” said Assam BJP chief Bhabesh Kalita.

The BJP leader accepted that the numbers have to be increased in the upper Assam area.

“We have to increase our tally in Jorhat and other parliamentary constituencies in that region. We are hopeful that before September 25, the membership numbers will witness a huge jump,” Kalita mentioned.

The upper Assam region which has a substantial number of tea garden voters, was the Congress bastion until 2014. The BJP made inroads during that election and since then, the party’s performance has been impressive in that region of the state.

The BJP came to power in the state twice in 2016 and 2021 due to the immense support of voters in the upper Assam region.

The total membership for the BJP has so far crossed the 25 lakh figure in the state, however, it is too far from achieving the 60 lakh target.

Earlier, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that till September 25, the membership will be done through missed calls in a designated number.

“If we get an additional time after September 25, the party functionary will start a manual membership drive also. Our party workers will help in filling the membership forms through offline mode as well,” Sarma said.