New Delhi: In a day when the Centre issued a notification for the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Central Election Committee (CEC) held its second meeting to decide candidates for the polls with Monday culminating two important developments.
The election panel, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, discussed names of the probable candidates for the polls. The second meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) concluded in New Delhi late on Monday night as the names of 90 candidates were finalised for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, news agency ANI reported citing sources.
According to the party sources, names of about 90 candidates across seven states were finalised in the meeting which was held at BJP headquarters in Delhi. An official announcement on the same is expected by the party soon, they said.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP national president JP Nadda, among others. Union Ministers Anurag Thakur, Prahlad Joshi, Nityanand Rai, party MPs Sushil Modi, CR Patil, Telangana state President Kishan Reddy, Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav, Deputy CM Rajendra Shukla, and Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel were among prominent leaders who attended the meeting.
As per the sources, discussions were held regarding the Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana. However, due to ongoing coalition talks in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha, there might be delays in finalising candidate lists for these states, the sources said.
They said that discussions were held for all remaining 11 seats in Gujarat, and names for seven seats have been finalised. Talks for the remaining five seats in Madhya Pradesh concluded with a consensus reached on four seats.
Deliberations were held on candidate names for 25 seats in Maharashtra, eight seats in Telangana, and all 28 seats in Karnataka. However, sources said that JD(S) is likely to secure three seats in Karnataka.
Additionally, discussions for all four seats in Himachal Pradesh also held, sources said. Proposed alliances with parties like JD(U), Lok Janshakti Party, and others in Bihar, AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, JJP in Haryana, and BJD in Odisha have not yet finalized seat-sharing arrangements.
On March 2, the BJP released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, topped by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will seek his third straight term in the Lower House from Varanasi.
Of the 195 candidates, 34 are ministers from the Center and States, while two are former chief ministers who are on the list. In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party behind at 52 seats. The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held sometime between April and May this year.
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