NEW DELHI: The Central Election Committee of the BJP met on Friday evening and finalised candidates for the remaining 41 of the 70 seats for the Assembly election. The names will be released on Saturday.
The party issued the first list of 29 candidates on January 4, which included Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, as the candidate from the New Delhi constituency against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, and ex-MP Ramesh Bidhuri from Kalkaji, where CM Atishi is in the fray.
If sources are to be believed, the CEC stressed the selection of non-controversial candidates to a great extent, giving equal consideration to women belonging to OBCs and other sections.
PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP president JP Nadda were part of the CEC that went through the recommendations of the Delhi BJP Core Committee, which met earlier in the day to prepare the tentative list of candidates.
The list of candidates was handed over to Modi soon after the meeting began. A source said: “PM Modi heard every detail related to the candidates, asking if all equations were considered. Since the Delhi election has emerged as a key challenge, the meet discussed the candidates’ backgrounds.”
The names in the list were scrutinised from various angles, including gender, winnability, organisational contributions and social and caste factors, to see how they matched the criteria set on the basis of an internal survey.
Sources said the CEC reportedly approved four to six names of women candidates. But there was no confirmation on the name of former national spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Sources said her name might be among others to be brought into the fray.
Caste equations
The CEC reportedly deliberated on caste equations as the Poorvanchali population comprises nearly 25% of the Hindu voters and includes 12% Muslims, 17% SCs, 10% Brahmins, and 8% Jats, among others. The BJP CEC also considered feedback submitted to the Core Committee by the Delhi MPs.