Delhi polls: Names of more BJP candidates likely this week

BJP is likely to later this week announce the names of some of its candidates for the February 7 Delhi Assembly elections after a meeting here of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC), sources said.
They said that keen to form the government in Delhi after having failed to do so by a whisker in the last elections, BJP will this time go on overdrive to achieve its target.
The BJP campaign in Delhi will be led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah with all senior party ministers and leaders also set to pitch in. Among these will be Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani and Ravi Shankar Prasad.

A meeting of the BJP brass was held here yesterday which saw major brainstorming with Shah discussing the poll strategy and seeking suggestions on ways to maximise the party's electoral performance.
The BJP chief has asked party members to focus on polling booths and reach out to voters. They have also been asked to identify booth-level workers and candidates for each of the 70 Assembly constituencies here.
The process for Delhi polls will be set in motion with the issue of the notification tomorrow following which candidates can start filing their nominations.

While AAP has already declared candidates for all the seats, Congress has so far named 24 and decided upon 45 more contestants.

BJP is unlikely to declare its chief ministerial candidate as the party will contest these polls under "collective leadership".
In the last Assembly polls, in December, 2013, BJP had bagged 31 seats and also had the support of the lone SAD MLA as it fell short of a simple majority in the 70-member House. AAP had won 28 seats followed by eight of Congress and formed a short-lived 49-day government here with outside support from the latter.