With a month left for the Karnataka Assembly elections, the ruling BJP will likely announce its first list of candidates on Monday. The BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) met in New Delhi late on Sunday evening to finalise the candidates.
The three-hour meeting saw the state party leaders, including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, deliberate on the names of probable candidates with senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda.
After the meeting, Bommai told reporters that PM Modi had given some "directions" and the candidates' names would be announced either on Monday or Tuesday. "We discussed the overall list for the Karnataka elections and probably we will sit again tomorrow. The list will be announced tomorrow or the day after that. I am contesting from the Shiggaon constituency," he told reporters on Sunday night.
The party's state unit came up with a probable list last week which suggested three names for each constituency. The shortlist was submitted before the CEC, which cleared the final list.
Meanwhile, there are reports that there wouldn't be any major shakeups. The meeting finalised over 140 names and a decision was taken to renominate most of its sitting MLAs in their respective constituencies, reported Bengaluru-based Deccan Herald.
The report added that the party would field strong candidates in key constituencies, including Kolar and Varuna. Senior BJP leader and Housing Minister V Somanna is a probable candidate from Varuna constituency since senior Congress leader and CM candidate Siddaramaiah is facing polls from the constituency.
Meanwhile, the Congress high command too held meetings to finalise the remaining 58 seats candidates for Karnataka assembly elections. The party has already come up with two lists for 166 seats and a third list is likely to be out at the earliest.
The BJP, which aims to come back to power again in the southern state, has set a target of winning at least 150 of the 224 seats. The party's main rival is the Congress which has also expressed confidence about coming back to power in the state.
The elections are scheduled for May 10 and the counting will be held on May 13.
