New Delhi, October 18
The newly reconstituted BJP Central Election Committee today met for the first time to finalise the party's candidates for the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls scheduled for November 12.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda were among those who attended the meeting. The party had recently included several new faces in the CEC, while dropping some.
Official sources said the names for most of the candidates were decided in the meeting for the 68-member state Assembly.
The 15-member CEC has several new entrants like former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediurappa, Union ministers Bhupender Yadav and Sarbananda Sonowal, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, senior leader Om Mathur, OBC Morcha president K Laxman, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Satyanarayan Jatiya and Sudha Yadav.
Yesterday, the Himachal BJP core group held extensive deliberations on the names of probable candidates with Shah and Nadda. The BJP, which is in power in the state, is trying hard to break the trend of the incumbent party losing the election.
According to Himachal BJP president Suresh Kashyap, the party held an internal poll through ballot papers among state office-bearers to assess their opinion on candidates.
October 25 is the last date for filing of nominations in the hill state.
Courtesy: Tribune News Service