Lok Sabha Polls: BJP's 5th Candidate List Likely Today After Late Night Marathon Meeting

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) held a late-night marathon meeting on Saturday in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, Brijesh Pathak, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, among others. The BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) discussed around 150 Lok Sabha seats.

The Lok Sabha seats are spread across several states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The list, which is expected today, will help the BJP finalize names on most of the seats that the party is contesting in the NDA. The BJP has already released a list of around 291 candidates and with 150 more names likely today, the tally will reach 441 seats across India. However, the party is forced to field another candidates from four seats where its candidates backed out - Asansol from where Pawan Singh opted out, Upendra Singh Rawat from the Barabanki, Ranjan Bhatt from Vadodara and Bhikhaji Thakor from the Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat. 

The decision regarding the fifth candidate list was made during a three-hour Central Election Committee meeting attended by key BJP leaders on Saturday. As per party sources, in Uttar Pradesh, 10 names were discussed and finalized. Out of the total 24 seats left to announce, 10 were discussed and are expected to be announced in the fifth list.

In Odisha, 21 seats were discussed. As per sources, Dharmendra Pradhan is likely to contest from Sambhal, Sambit Patra from Puri, and Aprajita Sarangi from Bhubneshwar in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. However, the names of two sitting MPs might be removed. In Rajasthan, eight seats were discussed.

In West Bengal, all remaining seats were discussed, out of which 20 have been announced in earlier lists. Eighteen, including Asansol, were discussed on Saturday. Three seats are yet to be discussed. Bihar and Maharashtra are to be discussed in the next Central Election Committee meeting.

Meanwhile, the Congress party on Saturday released its fourth list of 46 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will commence in seven phases starting April 19. Various parties have declared their initial lists for the elections, which will conclude on June 1. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.