The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting was held on Monday evening at the party headquarters here to finalize the second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the party’s national president JP Nadda and other senior leaders of the party attended the meeting.
According to the party sources, the candidates for some more Lok Sabha seats were likely to be finalised at the meeting.
Besides, the candidates for Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, and Bihar will also be discussed, the sources said.
Earlier, on Sunday, four leaders from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and one from the Congress joined the BJP in the presence of the party’s General Secretary Tarun Chugh here.
The four BRS turncoats were former MPs Godam Nagesh and Sitaram Naik, as well as former MLAs Saidhi Reddy and Jalagam Venkat Rao.
On Saturday, the BJP, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Jana Sena Party (JSP) had decided to contest the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together in Andhra Pradesh.
On March 2, the BJP released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, topped by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will seek his third straight term in Lower House from Varanasi.
Of the 195 candidates, 34 are ministers from the Center and States, while two are former chief ministers who are in the list.
In 2019, the BJP-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party behind at 52 seats.
The Lok Sabha polls are expected to be held sometime between April and May this year.