New Delhi: BJP president J.P. Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah held a crucial meeting on Monday with the party’s core group leaders from Maharashtra to discuss candidate selection for the upcoming Assembly elections. According to sources, the leaders deliberated on potential candidates for around 100 Assembly seats. The BJP’s central election committee is expected to meet on October 16 to give final approval to these names.
The meeting, held at the BJP headquarters, was attended by key leaders, including Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, State BJP president Chandrasekhar Bawankule, National general secretary Vinod Tawde, Union minister and state election in-charge Bhupendra Yadav, and senior leader Ashish Shelar, among others.
A major point of discussion was the seat-sharing arrangement within the ruling 'Mahayuti' alliance. Sources indicated that the formula for sharing seats among alliance partners is nearly finalized. The four-hour-long meeting included detailed deliberations on candidates seat-wise, region-wise, and caste-wise.
In addition, BJP core group leaders from Jharkhand are set to meet the party’s top leadership on Tuesday to finalise candidates for the upcoming state polls. The BJP will be contesting the Jharkhand elections alongside its NDA allies AJSU and JD(U).
With the Election Commission expected to announce the polling schedule for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections soon, the BJP leadership has been holding meetings with core group leaders from various states. Similar meetings were held on Sunday with party leaders from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to prepare for upcoming bypolls.