Lok Sabha Polls 2024: First list for BJP today? Details of party's late-night, 4-hour meet

BJP’s Central Election Committee met late night at its headquarters in Delhi with discussions, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to finalise the first list of candidates.

The meeting, which began around 10:30 pm on Thursday, lasted for more than four hours. Helmed by the PM, BJP president J P Nadda and Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh were among those who attended the meeting to deliberate on an edge in 543 Lok Sabha seats before the Election Commission (EC) announces the poll schedule. 

The elections are expected to be held in April-May. Other big names included UP 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. 

The BJP's first list may include around 100 names and could be out by noon today, according to some reports.
It is likely PM Modi will return to defend his seat in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, which has been a BJP bastion since 1991.

Losing seats in focus
The party prioritised capturing or improving its standing in seats it contested unsuccessfully in the 2019 elections.

Pressure on INDIA bloc
BJP may reportedly name a decent chunk of candidates in its first list to put pressure on the Congress-led INDIA bloc, which has still not finished seat-share deals.

Heartland priority
Reports suggest states of UP, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan and Gujarat will be focus areas. Also in focus could be southern states of Kerala - where BJP has traditionally been a non-entity - and Telangana, where it was routed by the Congress last year. Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu will be on hold pending alliance deliberations.

Ministers may get call
Many Union ministers, including Bhupender Yadav, Dharmendra Pradhan and Mansukh Mandaviya, are likely to be fielded in the general elections, after the party chose not to give them another Rajya Sabha term during the recent biennial polls to the Upper House of Parliament. 

Expect new faces
The BJP's poll candidate lists is known for new faces. All eyes will be on whether it drops some well-known names or does some fresh experiment in selecting its nominees.