The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Central Election Committee meeting was held on Thursday at the party headquarters in Delhi to finalise the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the party’s national president JP Nadda and chief ministers from BJP-ruled states attended the meeting.
Rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Gujarat’s Bhupendra Patel, Madhya Pradesh’s Mohan Yadav, Chhattisgarh’s Vishnu Deo Sai, Uttarakhand’s Pushkar Singh Dhami and Goa’s Pramod Sawant, among other leaders from various states were present during the meeting.
According to sources, candidates on seats where the BJP is comparatively weaker, including at least two South Indian states, will be announced in the first list in a bid to give them enough time for campaigning.
Besides, candidates for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat will also be discussed, said the sources.
The BJP is believed to have selected top three candidates for each constituency and final decision will taken keeping in mind the winnability of the candidates.
Before the CEC meeting, PM Modi also held a seperate meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda at his residence.
PM Modi has given a 400-plus target for NDA and 370-plus for the BJP alone. He has asked BJP workers to add at least 370 more votes than the last time in every booth to achieve the highly ambitious target of winning 370 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.