BJP may finalize LS candidates for 130 seats on Thursday
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to finalize candidates for nearly a third of the Lok Sabha seats during a Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. The first list, including around 130 seats the party has never won, is expected to be released on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the CEC meeting, with Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa in attendance.
Why does this story matter?
The first list will be significant since the ruling BJP has set a lofty goal of capturing 370 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats and is working to secure 400 for the National Democratic Alliance. An early announcement of candidates would give the nominees around 50 days to campaign. To recall, the BJP used a similar technique during last year's Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, where it declared 39 candidates for the most difficult seats, over three months before the polls.
First list will include seats from South India
The first list may focus on seats from South India, reports said. Constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu are also likely to be featured on the list. These are the seats that are considered weak because the party failed to win them in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. PM Modi (Varanasi), Home Minister Shah (Gandhinagar), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur) may be named in the first list.
BJP to decide Madhya Pradesh candidates for LS polls today
Before Thursday's meeting, the BJP's central leadership will meet with leaders from Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday to discuss ticket allocation for the state's 29 Lok Sabha seats. The state is critical to the party because it contributed significantly to its victory in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP won 28 of 29 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, up from 27 in 2014. The only seat the BJP lost was Chhindwara, Congress leader Kamal Nath's stronghold.
Speculation about Union ministers contesting Lok Sabha polls
There are also speculations about whether some Union ministers, who are members of Rajya Sabha, would participate in the Lok Sabha polls. Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar declined to comment after their colleague Pralhad Joshi seemed to suggest they could be among the candidates. Joshi later clarified that anyone can run and that he had not mentioned specific names.
Piyush Goyal's candidature, other expected contenders being discussed
Rumors about Rajya Sabha members contesting the Lok Sabha polls began after World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala explained to reporters in Abu Dhabi why Union Minister Piyush Goyal could not attend. Okonjo-Iweala stated that Goyal was "politically engaged since he is running for a seat himself." Goyal's office later stated that such decisions were made by the party, not individuals. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan is expected to run from Sambalpur or Dhenkanal in Odisha, and Bhupendra Yadav from Haryana.
BJP won in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh in RS polls
The BJP won in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, while the Congress won in Karnataka in Tuesday's Rajya Sabha elections. Overall, 15 candidates were elected from these three states. Of these, the BJP won 10 seats, the Congress won three, and the Samajwadi Party (SP) won two. The elections in all three states were marred by cross-voting by MLAs. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won eight of 10 seats, with the SP taking two.
