The BJP's central election committee (CEC) met in New Delhi on March 23 to finalise the party's candidates in several States for the Lok Sabha election.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and BJP president J.P. Nadda were joined by other CEC members as they went over the list of probable candidates to take a final call.
The States for which candidates were tipped to be discussed included Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The party’s CEC has met twice earlier and has named candidates for 291 Lok Sabha seats so far, including in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Kerala, and Telangana among others.
The BJP is yet to announces candidates for many seats in some of these States.
At least three of the declared candidates, including Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh, have withdrawn from the fray after their names drew some controversy or other.
The names of the leading figures of the party, including Mr. Modi, Mr. Shah, Mr. Singh and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, have already been announced for the polls, and all of them are contesting from their current constituencies.
The seven-phase elections are set to be held between April 19 and June 1 to elect MPs for 543 Lok Sabha seats, with the counting of votes scheduled for June 4.
