The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) convened its Central Election Committee on Saturday to deliberate on candidate nominations for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. The finalized list, anticipated to be unveiled on Sunday, will encompass candidates from these states. The decision was reached following an extensive three-hour meeting of the Central Election Committee, attended by prominent BJP leaders.
The gathering saw the participation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, Brijesh Pathak, and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, among others.
In Uttar Pradesh, discussions centered on and concluded with the finalization of 10 candidate names out of the remaining 24 seats yet to be announced, slated for inclusion in the fourth list.
For Odisha, deliberations encompassed 21 seats, with potential candidates like Dharmendra Pradhan for Sambhal, Sambit Patra for Puri, and Aprajita Sarangi for Bhubneshwar emerging as frontrunners. However, there is speculation regarding the removal of two incumbent MPs’ names from the list.
Similarly, discussions for Rajasthan focused on eight seats, while in West Bengal, deliberations were held for the remaining seats, with 18 seats discussed on Saturday out of which three are yet to be addressed. Notably, earlier lists had already announced 20 seats for West Bengal, including Asansol.
The forthcoming Central Election Committee meeting will delve into discussions concerning Bihar and Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, in parallel developments, the Congress party unveiled its fourth list comprising 46 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The electoral process for the 543 Lok Sabha seats will span across seven phases, commencing on April 19. As various parties unveil their preliminary candidate rosters, the election period is set to culminate on June 1, with vote counting scheduled for June 4.
Recalling the outcomes of the previous Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured a commanding victory in 2019 with 303 seats, while the Indian National Congress (INC) could only secure 52 seats. Similarly, in the 2014 elections, the BJP emerged triumphant with 282 seats, overshadowing the INC, which managed to secure only 44 seats. These electoral statistics highlight the prevailing political landscape as parties gear up for the impending electoral battle.
