New Delhi, Mar 1: Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to announce its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 later today. The party Central Election Committee in its meeting on Thursday night finalised candidates for various seats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the meeting also attended by party president J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The first list is likely to include names of 155 candidates from 17 states including Modi, Shah and Rajnath Singh. While Modi will be fielded from Varanasi, Amit Shah will contest the elections from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Rajnath Singh will be fielded from Lucknow and Smriti Irani who defeated former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the last Lok Sabha elections, will be fielded again from Amethi constituency.
There are reports that party may field Union Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from Gwalior while former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan may be fielded either from Bhopal or Vidisha constituency. There were speculations that Chouhan may be fielded from Chhindwara against Nakul Nath.
Chief minister of BJP ruled states also attended the CEC meeting. The party also discussed seat sharing with its alliance partners in different states. In Uttar Pradesh BJP will contest from 74 Lok Sabha seats and will share remaining six seats with its alliance partners Apna Dal, RLD and others.
The saffron party is yet to decide on its alliance partners in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab.
