The states for which LS candidates were discussed include Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. Leaders of all these states joined the CEC meeting.
Before the meeting, the state leaders held a preliminary discussion with Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda to prepare the final list of candidates for the CEC.
The party is also working out alliances in a few states. During the day, Haryana deputy CM and Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala held seat-sharing talks with Nadda. BJP had won all the 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana in the 2019 elections. A section of the state BJP leadership is not in favour of leaving any seat for its ally JJP. Sources told ET that JJP was demanding two Lok Sabha seats.
In the CEC meeting, the BJP leaders discussed candidates for eight Lok Sabha seats of Andhra Pradesh. Sources told ET that several names, including state BJP president D Purandeswari, Y Satya Kumar, former CM Kiran Kumar Reddy, CM Ramesh, YS Chowdary were in the list of candidates for Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha elections. BJP has allied with Telugu Desam Party and Jana Sena for the LS as well as assembly elections in the state. While the party leadership also discussed candidates for Odisha, a discussion of alliance with BJD is still going on.
Bihar deputy CM Samrat Choudhary also took part in the CEC meeting to discuss candidates on 17 seats it won in 2019. Sources told ET that the party was mulling over repeating several candidates in Bihar. There is a possibility that it could exchange a few seats with JDU and Lok Janshakti party as part of the deal. The LJP (Ram Vilas) is likely to leave the Nawada Lok Sabha seat for BJP.In Karnataka, the party will finalise names for all the 27 seats it plans to contest out of 29 and leave the two for alliance partner JDS.While the seat sharing discussion is going on among allies in Maharashtra, the central leadership discussed candidates on a dozen seats in the state.
BJP has, so far, named candidates for 195 Lok Sabha seats spread across 16 states and two Union Territories. However, two of them, Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh and Upendra Rawat, withdrew their names after their choices sparked controversies. BJP’s second list could be announced in a day or two, as per party sources.
