BJP set to finalise seats for top leaders today

The BJP is set to select seats for most of its top leaders, including Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, in a meeting of the party’s 19-member Central Election Committee on Thursday.

The principal opposition party has not announced any candidate for the two battleground states — Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — and other northern and central states such as Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the party has significant presence.

Coveted seat There has been a lot of internal tension with regard to the candidature of Modi, party President Rajnath Singh and senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi. Joshi is the sitting MP from Varanasi, a seat being reportedly coveted by Modi himself. Singh is keen on contesting from Lucknow, a prestigious seat once held by the BJP’s tallest leader, Atal Behari Vajpayee. The BJP President wants to shift from Ghaziabad, a seat he had won in 2009.

The sitting BJP MP from Lucknow, Lalji Tandon, has publicly stated that he will vacate his seat for Modi and remained silent on Singh’s expressed desire to contest from the State capital. The BJP is expected to announce candidates for quite a few seats in UP where polling starts for six phases from April 10. From Bihar, too, a number of announcements are likely.

The BJP has an alliance with Dalit leader Ramvilas Paswan’s LJP, which will contest seven seats, as well as OBC leader Upendra Kushwaha, whose political outfit is expected to contest a couple of seats in Bihar.