The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to finalise its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in the first week of February. According to sources, the first list may have names of 15 to 20 candidates. A majority of the names in the first list would be that of sitting MPs, the sources said.
Preparations for the selection of candidates have begun with a meeting of the party district units to elicit views. The top leaders too are learnt to have held preliminary consultations on the selection process. “However, it will take some more consultations to finalise the names,” a senior BJP leader said.
The party wants to follow a system of its district units proposing the names of probable candidates. After a process of screening by the party’s State-level leaders, names would be recommended to the central election committee, which is the final authority for clearing names.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the party’s core committee here on Wednesday is expected to finalise the dates and venues of the rallies to be addressed by the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the State.