PM Modi chairs late-night key BJP meeting to pick candidates for Lok Sabha polls

PM Modi chaired the BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) on late Thursday evening to finalise the first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The meeting was attended by leaders such as BJP National President JP Nadda, Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh..

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the Bharatiya Janata Party's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting on Thursday night in the nation's capital  to take a call on the first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting took place at the party headquarters and started at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Thursday. It lasted for over four hours. Prominent figures in the political arena were present at the meeting, including the National President of the party, JP Nadda; Union Home Minister, Amit Shah; Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh; Organization General Secretary, BL Santosh; Chief Ministers; State Presidents; and In-charges, Co-Incharges, and Election In-charges of different states.

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 is expected to be released in a day or two, according to media reports.

Attending the conference were the chief ministers of Goa, Uttarakhand, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

Discussions over the names of candidates for each of Madhya Pradesh's 29 seats took place in the presence of BJP State President VD Sharma, BJP leader Prahlad Patel, and former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

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.

According to reports, the party is set to declare a number of candidates prior to the election dates, which would put pressure on the Opposition INDIA alliance, which is still working through the seat distribution procedure.

Reports further indicate that the BJP hopes to declare candidates for more than 50% of the Lok Sabha seats by March 10th. Shortlists naming the top three contenders for each seat have been created. This was the strategy used in the most recent general election of 2019, when the BJP declared 164 candidates on March 21, many weeks ahead of the poll announcement.