BJP's Central Election Committee meeting being held at party's headquarter in New Delhi.
Credit: X/ @BJP4India
The Central Election Committee of the BJP, the party’s highest decision-making body, met on Sunday to deliberate over tickets in the upcoming elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. PM Modi attended the meeting, which went on late into the evening, along with party president J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, among other senior leaders.
Other leaders who attended the meeting included former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.
While the party has released two lists for both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, for Rajasthan, candidates are yet to be announced. For Rajasthan, the party is likely to discuss 70 seats, and in 19 seats, approvals are pending, said party sources.
The party has entrusted senior leaders with the responsibility of key districts across 42 districts in Rajasthan, in addition to delegating seats to 200 party leaders. Seats across the states have also been divided into five categories, with the first category being seats where the party has won consistently over the years.
Last week, the party named Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar as the candidate from the Dimani seat, while Minister of State for Food Processing and Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel was fielded from Narsingpur. Minister of State for Rural Development Faggan Singh Kulaste was fielded from the Niwas seat.
In August, the party announced names for around 39 seats in Madhya Pradesh and 21 in Chhattisgarh, which was a departure from tradition as the names were announced months ahead of the election. In 2018, the BJP lost in all the 60 constituencies for which the candidates were announced.