Amidst the pronouncement of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by the Central Government, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Central Election Committee (CEC) convened for its second session, marking a day of significant developments on Monday.
The electoral committee, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, engaged in discussions concerning potential candidates for the upcoming polls. Concluding late on Monday night, the second meeting of the BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) in New Delhi solidified the names of 90 candidates for the imminent Lok Sabha elections, as per sources reported by news agency ANI.
Party insiders disclosed that the meeting, hosted at the BJP headquarters in Delhi, finalized the names of approximately 90 candidates spanning seven states. An official announcement on this matter is anticipated from the party in the near future.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP National President JP Nadda, along with other dignitaries such as Union Ministers Anurag Thakur, Prahlad Joshi, Nityanand Rai, and party MPs Sushil Modi and CR Patil, among others, attended the deliberations. The meeting also saw the participation of state leaders like Telangana’s President Kishan Reddy, Madhya Pradesh’s CM Mohan Yadav, Deputy CM Rajendra Shukla, and Gujarat’s CM Bhupendra Patel.
Sources indicated that discussions encompassed the allocation of Lok Sabha seats in states including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, and Telangana. Ongoing coalition negotiations in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha may cause delays in finalizing candidate lists for these states, according to the sources.
The discussions included all remaining 11 seats in Gujarat, with names for seven seats reaching finalization. Similarly, talks for the remaining five seats in Madhya Pradesh achieved consensus on four seats. Deliberations covered candidate names for 25 seats in Maharashtra, eight in Telangana, and the entire set of 28 seats in Karnataka. Notably, JD(S) is poised to secure three seats in Karnataka, as per sources.
Furthermore, discussions extended to the allocation of all four seats in Himachal Pradesh. Proposed alliances with parties such as JD(U), Lok Janshakti Party, AIADMK, JJP, and BJD are yet to finalize seat-sharing arrangements in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and Odisha, respectively.
On March 2, the BJP unveiled its initial list of 195 candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, prominently featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his third consecutive term from Varanasi. Out of the 195 candidates, 34 are ministers from both the Central and State levels, with two former chief ministers making the list. In the 2019 elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a total of 303 seats, surpassing the opposition party at 52 seats. The Lok Sabha elections are anticipated to take place between April and May this year.