PM Modi Chairs Late-night Meet to Pick Lok Sabha Poll Candidates, BJP May Release List Before Voting Dates Announcement

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening chaired the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting in the national capital to take a call on the first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting, which began around 10:30 pm on Thursday, lasted for more than four hours and was held at the party’s headquarters. Top leaders, including party’s National President JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Organisation General Secretary BL Santosh, Chief Ministers, State Presidents, In-charges, Co-Incharges, and Election In-charges of various states were present in the meeting.

The leaders held discussions on the seats of Lok Sabha across about 17 states and set seals on more than 155 seats, the list of which will be released in a day or two.

According to an India Today report, the BJP is likely to announce its candidates on “weak seats” in Uttar Pradesh before the Election Commission releases dates for the Lok Sabha elections that are expected to be held in April-May.

The Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Assam, Uttarakhand, and Goa were also present at the meeting.

Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP leader Prahlad Patel, and BJP’s State President VD Sharma were also present in the meeting, where discussions were held regarding the names of candidates for all 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh.

Sources indicated that the announcement of the names of 4-5 candidates from Telangana could be made soon.

Three current MPs G Kishan Reddy, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, and Arvind Dharmapuri may also get tickets again.

Discussions were held with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath regarding the names of candidates in the meeting.

Discussions were also held on the names of candidates with BJP leaders from Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand.

BJP sources said that the names of candidates from Assam were discussed in the meeting, in which all Lok Sabha seats were filled with leaders from Assam.

BJP will contest on eleven seats there, and Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal could contest from Dibrugarh, while State Minister Rameshwar Teli could be sent to the Rajya Sabha.

Discussions were also conducted on candidates for the seats in Jammu, while deliberations for Kashmir will take place in the next meeting.

Additionally, discussions were held on two to three seats in Delhi, but another round of meetings will happen. Candidates have been finalised for one seat in Goa, while one seat is yet to be decided.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a slogan of ‘Crossing 400’ in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. The BJP aims to win more than 370 seats on its own.

(With inputs from agencies)