What is the level of preparedness of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress for the Himachal Pradesh elections? Very low. From the point of view of election machinery, the BJP is ahead. It has set up committees, deployed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and other cadres and set up a system. The Congress’ efforts are woefully inadequate. The party has been unable to set up screening committees to select candidates and has so far not deputed anyone to set up the election infrastructure. However, both parties are evenly matched when it comes to the selection of the chief ministerial