The Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to release its first list of candidates soon, this after a marathon meeting of the central election committee (CEC) ended in the early hours of Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP’s National President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Organisation General Secretary BL Santosh, Chief Ministers, State Presidents, In-charges, Co-Incharges, and Election In-charges of various states were present in this meeting. Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Assam, Uttarakhand, and Goa were also present.
Around 17 states like Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Telangana, Assam, Goa and others were discussed in the meeting. Sources say, candidates for nearly 155 seats were finalised in the meeting on Thursday night.

As per sources in the UP BJP, discussions were held on 50 seats in Uttar Pradesh; however, the party has decided to release half of the names in the first list. Among these seats, six have been given to alliance partners in Uttar Pradesh. Apna Dal (Sone Lal Patel) will fight for 2 seats, Rashtriya Lok Dal is likely to get 2 seats in Western Uttar Pradesh, Om Prakash Rajbhars SPBSP will contest for 1 seat, and Sanjay Nishad’s party will contest for 1 seat.
All five seats in Uttrakhand were discussed in CEC and the names could be announced in the first list of the party.

Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP leader Prahlad Patel, and BJP’s State President VD Sharma were also present in the meeting, where discussions were held regarding the names of candidates for all 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh.

Out of 17 seats in Telangana, candidates for 4-5 seats were discussed and will get a place in the first list. Three current MPs, G. Kishan Reddy, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, and Arvind Dharmapuri may also get tickets again.

BJP sources also said that the names of candidates for Assam’s Lok Sabha seats were discussed in the meeting. Out of 11 seats in Assam, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal could contest from Dibrugarh. Seats in Assam have also been earmarked for BJP allies AGP and UPPL. AGP would contest in Barpeta and Dhubri seats, while the UPPL is set to field its candidate from the Kokrajhar seat.

Seats in Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Goa were also discussed. Sources say one of the candidate from the two seats in Goa has been finalised. Further rounds of meetings of the CEC are expected soon. (ANI)