The Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is meeting in New Delhi on Monday.
This meeting has been called to finalize the second list of candidates in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda and other members of the Central Election Committee are present in this meeting held at the BJP headquarters.
According to sources, the meeting is likely to last till late night. According to him, the party’s second list may be released on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The states for which the names of candidates may be announced include Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana.
Before the meeting, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janata Party leader Dushyant Chautala held talks with BJP President JP Nadda on seat sharing between the two allies in the state.
Although a section of Haryana BJP leaders are opposing the alliance, the party seems to be considering its options.
BJP had won all 10 seats in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. JJP had formed an alliance with the party after the assembly elections.
Efforts continue for alliance with regional parties
The BJP has recently joined hands with several parties in view of the general elections expected in April-May. Telugu Desam Party has recently joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Its talks are also going on with the ruling Biju Janata Dal of Odisha. In the last few days, Nadda and Shah have held various meetings with the election committees of different states and senior leaders there and discussed the names of the candidates.
Earlier, the BJP’s Central Election Committee meeting was held on March 1 and the next day the party released the first list of 195 candidates for 16 states and 2 union territories.
28 women and 47 youth included in the first list
The names of Prime Minister Modi (Varanasi), Shah (Gandhinagar) and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow) were also included in the first list. The names of 34 Union ministers were included in this list while the tickets of three ministers were cancelled.
The party’s first list includes 28 women and 47 youth, while 27 candidates are from Scheduled Caste, 18 from Scheduled Tribe and 57 from Other Backward Class.
The list includes 51 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 20 in West Bengal, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 15-15 seats in Gujarat and Rajasthan, 12-12 seats in Kerala-Telangana, 11-11 seats in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh-Assam and 5 in Delhi. Candidates were announced in some other states and union territories including the seat.