In a late-night meeting that lasted for over six hours, the BJP top brass discussed the second list of candidates for 150-odd Lok Sabha seats, as per media reports. It has been told that the final call will be taken during a meeting of the party's election committee.
The second list is expected to be released by this weekend, about a week after the first list with 195 names.
Reportedly, the meeting was attended by BJP's core committees in eight states including Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Besides discussing the second list of candidates, the leaders also exchanged views on seat-sharing between the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP where the Maharashtra unit of the core committee has reached a seat-sharing formula.
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As per media reports, the formula suggested that the BJP would contest 32 out of 48 seats, leaving 12 for the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and four for the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
As per a report by NDTV, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari stands a chance to be fielded from Nagpur for the third time while BJP's national secretary Pankaja Munde is also likely get a poll pass.
State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule may be fielded from Wardha constituency, said sources, adding that the BJP may choose about 10 new faces for Maharashtra Lok Sabha battle.
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With the BJP likely to release the second list with 150 names by the weekend, a total of 345 candidates would be named before dates for the election are announced. This indicates that the BJP leadership plans to maximise campaign time by finalising candidates early.
