 "Lok Sabha polls: BJP candidates' second list likely on Mar 5. Top points")
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may announce its second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Wednesday, Parliamentary Board member B S Yediyurappa indicated on Monday.
"Day after tomorrow, there is a meeting in Delhi. I am going there. Most probably the second list (of Lok Sabha candidates) (also) comprising Karnataka may be finalised. In view of that, I am going to Delhi. I believe that the list will be finalised day after tomorrow. National leaders will take a final decision on the list," he said.
The saffron party named as many as 195 candidates in the first list on Saturday, featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah. Notably, the party denied tickets to many Union Ministers and MPs, including Meenakshi Lekhi, John Barla, Pragya Singh Thakur, Ramesh Bidhuri, among others.
What to expect from BJP's second list of candidates?
1) The party contested 436 seats out of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies in the 2019 elections. The remaining seats were contested by its National Democratic Alliance bloc members. In the first list, the BJP announced the names of 195 candidates or 45 per cent of the seats it contested in 2019.
2) Yediyurappa also said that the upcoming list may be the final one by the party. "Most probably there will not be any delay. All the seats may be declared," the senior BJP leader said.
3) The former Karnataka Chief Minister did not comment on the seats allotted to NDA partner JDS in the southern state. The outfit is led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. Without indulging into the details, he said that an agreement would be reached in this regard.
4) In 2019, the party had dropped 99 of its 268 sitting MPs. This time, focussing on the key factor of "winnability" of the leaders, it re-nominated 108 of its sitting MPs for the polls, the first list showed. The list featured 28 women.
5) The party dropped many controversial leaders in the first list, indicating zero tolerance for the "poor" conduct of its sitting MPs. In the next list, one of the focus will be on Uttar Pradesh's Kaiserganj seat, for which the party is yet to announce its candidate. The seat is represented by controversial MP and former chief of the wrestling body of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of multiple sexual misconduct by top Indian wrestlers. The incident had drawn major flak for the Narendra Modi government from the Opposition and many women rights groups.
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