BJP central poll committee to finalise Modi, Advani's LS seats

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) Central Election Committee is meeting here on Wednesday to finalise the second seat for its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and also announce the seat from which senior leader L.K. Advani will contest.

There is specualtion that Advani is likely to be fielded again from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, whereas Modi, who is already contesting the polls from Varanasi, could choose to contest from either Baroda or Ahmedabad East.

Modi is reported to have contacted Advani this morning and urged him to contest from Gandhinagar, some media reports said. There is speculation that Advani could opt to contest the general elections from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

On Tuesday, the Gujarat unit of the BJP had recommended Advani's name for the Gandhinagar seat. It also strongly recommended that Modi contest from his home state of Gujarat, apart from Varanasi.

Advani, 87, has been the sitting MP from Gandhinagar for the last 16 years.

The BJP's CEC will also decide upon the list of candidates for Rajasthan and the remaining seats of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.