New Delhi: The Bhartiya Janata Party has convened its Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting here on Sunday, the day the auspicious period of Navratra begins, to release the first list of candidate for the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections slated on October 21.
The CEC meeting is scheduled only after Prime Minister Modi's return from abroad on Saturday when the inauspicious 'pitrapaksha' also ends. The BJP is a strong votary of the Hindu traditions and hence it deferred selection of candidates until this inauspicious period ends.
The BJP sources said the screening of candidates for both the states is almost complete while the party in Maharashtra has been told by working president J P Nadda to prepare the list for all 288 seats in the eventuality of the Shiv Sena breaking away from the alliance for not getting half the seats it is demanding.
They said Sena has been offered 122 seats and negotiations are still on. Even in the last Assembly elections in 2014, the BJP and the Shiv Sena had contested elections separately without the alliance, though they came together after the polls to form the government.
The BJP central leaders are confident of the alliance this time and claim the party will win the majority even if the Sena walks out.
