New Delhi, Leading News Service: The ruling BJP, which has set a target of winning 370 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, is gearing up for the selection of candidates for each seat. Under that, BJP's Central Election Committee has discussed 250 seats in the first phase and it is understood that the names of 180 candidates have been decided. It is also learned that the discussion about the candidates in states like Maharashtra where the seat sharing with the allies has not been completed, will be held at a later stage.
The first meeting of the Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party was held yesterday (Thursday) at the party office in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh attended the meeting chaired by party JP Nadda. It is said that the names of 180 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections were decided in the meeting which lasted till three o'clock in the midnight. A formal announcement can be made anytime. The names of Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah may be in the first list. However, among these 180 candidates, the names of candidates from seats lost by BJP in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections are the most. So that the candidates of the party here can get maximum time for preparation, BJP sources say.
According to information received from BJP sources, the list of potential candidates from 23 states was presented in the election committee meeting held yesterday. New faces were also discussed. In the wake of the Nari Shakti Vandan Act recently passed by the Modi government to give 33 percent reservation to women in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies, the party also brainstormed on fielding maximum number of women candidates in the Lok Sabha elections to strengthen the reservation for women. It also discussed where to field a record number of women including Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Smriti Irani. According to sources, the BJP leadership has made preparations to nominate women candidates on more than 70 seats.
In the later phase of Maharashtra
As the BJP leadership has focused on each seat for the Lok Sabha polls, it is learned that the brainstorming on the candidates in the states where the alliance and seat-sharing formula is yet to be decided will take place later in the BJP's Central Election Committee. This includes states like Maharashtra, Bihar. In Maharashtra, seat allocation between BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde group) and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar group) has not been completed yet. In the background of the changed political situation in the state, BJP is trying to contest the maximum number of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. While the Shinde group and the Ajit Pawar group have also advanced their demand for seats in their respective spheres of influence, the formula of who will fight for how many seats has not yet been decided. On the same lines, in Bihar also, since no decision has been taken on seat allocation between the United Janata Dal and the BJP, it is also understood that there will be a discussion about the selection of candidates in these states at a later stage. Apart from this, it is also said that the names of candidates in the first list of BJP for about a dozen seats in Rajasthan have been discussed.
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