PM chairs CEC meet in Delhi to finalise 1st list of candidates for LS polls

The Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is underway at the party headquarters in the national capital.

The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is expected to finalise the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

At the meeting, Party President JP Nadda along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and representatives and Chief Ministers of 16 states are present.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived on Thursday evening for the BJP CEC meeting at the party headquarters and received a warm welcome from BJP chief JP Nadda.

The meeting also saw the participation of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, among others.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak and KP Maurya also arrived at the BJP headquarters for the meeting in Delhi.

The representatives and chief minister of the 16 states present for today's CEC meeting include Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Goa, Daman and Diu, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Assam, Chandigarh and Telangana.

The party is expected to announce over 100 names over the next few days. Sources said the first list is likely to have the names of top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

The party may also initially focus on states where it is contesting on its own. The first list may also have some seats the BJP lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has discussed candidates for 14 Lok Sabha seats the party lost in 2019 and the first list could include around 40 names from the electorally crucial state, sources said.

The first list may have all names in western Uttar Pradesh and some seats in the Awadh and Purvanchal regions of the state.

Sources said that in Madhya Pradesh, the names of prominent leaders, including former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, and senior party functionaries Kailash Vijayvargiya and Narottam Mishra, are among the recommendations received by the central leadership from the state unit.

Sources said that the first list for Rajasthan may have 15 names, including some prominent leaders. The list from Odisha is also expected to have the names of some senior leaders and party functionaries.

Earlier on Wednesday, BJP leadership held a core group meeting of different states as part of the candidate selection process for the Lok Sabha polls, with party chief JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah discussing with leaders the panel of names recommended by the respective state units.