New Delhi: BJP Top Brass Holds Meeting To Finalize 100 Lok Sabha Candidates

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a late-night meeting with the BJP's top brass at his official residence on Thursday, as per reports.

It has been speculated that the saffron party finalized 100 Lok Sabha candidates during this high-profile meeting. As per sources, the first list is expected to be announced in the upcoming days.

BJP heavyweights, including the likes of PM Modi himself from Varanasi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah from Gujarat's Gandhinagar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow along with the 'weak' seats that the party lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by a small margin, will be extensively focused in this first list of Lok Sabha candidates.

During this high stakes meeting, the BJP high command gave special attention to states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Assam, Kerala and Telangana, among others.

According to reports, the likelihood of Union Ministers, who are also sitting Rajya Sabha MPs, contesting the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections likely to be held in April-May must not be ruled out.

These lawmakers include Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister Sarbanand Sonowal, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Union Minister of State (MoS) V Muraleedharan.

The BJP will also focus on fresh faces, including several women in this list of candidates. For instance, the saffron party could nominate Bhojpuri star Pawan Singh to challenge Trinamool Congress MP and Bollywood legend Shatrughan Sinha in West Bengal's Asansol district.

On Thursday, PM Modi chaired a CEC meeting that lasted for four hours in order to finalise the first of BJP's candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting, which started at 10:30 pm, went on for over four hours. It was attended by BJP chief JP Nadda, Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, among others.

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