The chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party, JP Nadda, met on Saturday with prominent state officials, including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and B S Yediyurappa, to discuss potential candidates for the Karnataka Assembly elections, a day before a meeting to finalise the list.
The BJP’s parliamentary board will convene on Sunday to choose the party’s candidates for the 224-member Karnataka assembly elections on May 10.
Before the discussions started, Chief Minister Bommai said: “We will discuss about all probable candidates. We have district and constituency-wise details and recent survey outcomes. Keeping all that in mind, we will have a detailed discussion with national leaders.”
The BJP has set a goal of capturing at least 150 of the 224 seats in order to regain power in the southern state.
When asked if the entire list would be revealed at once, Bommai informed reporters that, with the exception of a few names, the remainder might be revealed following board approval.
He stated the list of candidates would be finalised at the parliamentary board meeting on Sunday at 5 pm.
Senior party leader Arun Singh and Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Mansukh Mandaviya, who are in charge of the BJP’s campaign for the state’s Assembly elections, were present at the meeting at Nadda’s residence in New Delhi.
In addition to Bommai and former Karnataka chief minister Yediyurappa, the meeting also included state BJP president Nalinkumar Kateel and BJP national secretary C T Ravi.
The Janata Dal-Secular and Congress, the two major opposition parties in the state, have released their initial lists of candidates.
Aam Aadmi Party, All India Majlis-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Social Democratic Party of India, and other smaller parties in Karnataka have also made their first and second lists public.
The JD-S has released a list of 93 candidates, but the Congress has announced candidates for 166 of the 224 seats. The deadline for submitting nominations is April 20; election notification will be sent out on April 13.
Results will be declared on May 13.
