BJP ALL SET FOR THIRD LIST

The BJP is likely to convene the third meeting of the Central Election Committee on March 22 to finalise the third list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party has announced 267 candidates after two meetings and featured states where the party does not have too many allies. The upcoming list will be the result of detailed discussions that were held by the state core committees with the party's state allies.

On Monday, the core committee meetings for eight states — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, Odisha, Sikkim, Maharashtra, and Gujarat — were convened and discussions took place on the shortlisted names sent by the respective state committees. BJP national president J.P. Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and, General Secretary (Organisation) B.L. Santosh were present at the meetings along with prominent leaders from the respective states.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak were part of the discussion for the remaining candidates in the state. The saffron party had announced 51 candidates in its first list on March 3.

The core committee for Haryana discussed the situation arising from the departure of the Jannayak Janta

Party from the alliance and the formation of the new government under Nayab Singh Saini. Both Saini and his predecessor, Manohar Lal Khattar, attended the meeting.

The new alliance with Raj Thackeray took centre stage during the discussion on the remaining seats in Maharashtra. The party has declared 20 candidates and continues to hold seat-sharing talks with its allies - the Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

The BJP is still contemplating an alliance with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal and discussed potential candidates for the remaining constituencies in Karnataka and West Bengal.