BJP may release LS polls first list over weekend; focus likely to be on star candidates, ‘weak’ seats

The BJP may announce its first list of Lok Sabha candidates over the weekend, party leaders have said. The names were decided at a marathon meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC), which went on till the early hours of Friday. “It will be speculation to guess the exact number to be announced but the list is expected to be a significant one,” said a BJP leader.

The list is likely to feature some high-profile names, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as constituencies that the party lost last time, according to BJP insiders. The ruling party wants to ensure that its candidates for the seats it failed to win last time get ample time to campaign and reach out to the electorate.

It has also informally deployed in-charges for these “weak” seats. In UP, BJP general secretary Sunil Bansal is paying additional attention to the seats that the party lost last time, a leader said on the condition of anonymity. The party is hopeful of flipping these constituencies — it won 62 of the 78 Lok Sabha seats it contested in UP last time — in the backdrop of the Ayodhya Ram temple inauguration, the decision of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to join the NDA, and a weaker Opposition compared to last time.

“The BJP’s advantage against the Congress is so clear that even if the latter chooses its nominees knowing who our candidates are, the popularity of PM Modi will ensure a sweep,” said a BJP leader.

Another BJP functionary pointed out that the party announced candidates for the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections even before the Election Commission (EC) declared the poll schedule. A BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh said an early announcement of the Lok Sabha candidates would send out the message of the BJP