BJP plans to release list of candidates for first two phases of 2019 Lok Sabha polls today

NEW DELHI: BJP will declare its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday evening. The list would cover seats going to polls in the first two phases as well as some of the prominent names.

The BJP central election committee is likely to discuss candidates for seats from Bihar, western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and West Bengal, among other states.

A total of 188 seats go to polls in the first two phases of polling to be held on April 11and 18.

While BJP rivals, including Congress, have announced names for several seats in different states, the ruling party has kept an eye on these developments even as it has gone about poaching leaders from the opposition camp. Those who have switched sides from other parties are mainly from West Bengal and Kerala, where BJP does not have a significant political footprint.

Those ticket hopefuls from SP and BSP who have been denied a ticket due to the alliance are said to be in touch with BJP and more leaders are likely to join in the coming week. Former Congress MP Arvind Sharma joined BJP on Friday. He may be fielded from Karnal, party sources said.

Meanwhile, there has been a lot of activity in the BJP headquarters with ticket-seekers and their supporters queuing up to meet party chief Amit Shah. Those who met Shah on Thursday include some sitting and former MPs. Giridih MP Ravindra Pandey is miffed at BJP for giving the seat to ally AJSU and has been seeking an audience with Shah for the past few days.

Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi, party general secretary in-charge of the state Bhupendra Yadav and other leaders met at the BJP headquarters on Friday. Some of the sitting BJP MPs from Bihar reportedly want to move to other seats to beat antiincumbency but the party brass is not favourable to the idea. BJP has given five seats it won in 2014 to ally JDU.

Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Rawat, Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot and party vice-president Shyam Jajhu also met Shah. Candidates from the five seats of the hill state are also likely to be announced. Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, who won Garhwal, is likely to be replaced due to his old age. His son Manish switched to Congress on Thursday.

Some of the sitting BJP MLAs from Uttar Pradesh are vying for a Lok Sabha ticket. A few of them have been making the rounds of the headquarters in the past week. The SP-BSP alliance has changed the caste equation in several seats of UP. Some of the sitting MPs, including a couple of Union ministers, are reportedly trying to shift to another seat.

Former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has already announced that Umesh Jadhav will be fielded against Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge from Gulbarga reserved seat. The party’s prospects may improve due to the tussle between Congress and JDS despite the 20-8 seat sharing agreement. JDS chief Deve Gowda had announced the candidature of his grandson Nikhil from Mandya seat.