BJP may field PM Modi from a second seat in South India; Ramanathapuram in TN under consideration
The BJP is likely to field PM Modi in a second seat from Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram. He had visited Rameswaram in Ramanathapuram before the pran pratishtha in Ayodhya Ram Temple.
FollowThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is considering fielding Prime Minister Narendra Modi in two constituencies in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. According to reports, Ramanathapuram constituency in Tamil Nadu is being considered as PM Modi's second constituency. Ramanathapuram is the district where the Rameswaram temple is located. Before inaugurating the Ayodhya temple, PM Modi visited the Rameswaram temple. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he contested from Vadodara and Varanasi.
In 2019, the Prime Minister contested only in Varanasi. However, it is reported that this time he may contest in a second seat apart from Varanasi. The possibility of contesting in two seats is being sought in the assessment that Modi's candidature will be crucial to winning more seats in South India as well. A decision in this regard will be taken after the final candidate list of BJP is made.
There were already a lot of speculations that PM Modi may contest in South India. A report surfaced that PM Modi would contest in Thiruvananthapuram, however, it was denied by the central leadership of the BJP. Previous to this, BJP state president for Tamil Nadu Annamalai said that many people had questioned whether Ramanathapuram should count as the second constituency if he contested for two seats. The BJP Tamil Nadu unit was notified at the time by the party's leadership that a decision on the matter would be made later.
Ramanathapuram is the constituency where Muslim League candidate Nawaz Kani won by more than one and a half lakh votes. Ramanathapuram is the only Lok Sabha seat for the Muslim League outside Kerala. DMK has won four of the six assembly constituencies in Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency and Congress has won two seats.Â
PM Modi presided over the BJP '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.
According to reports, the party is set to declare several candidates before 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.
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