BENGALURU: While the Congress has already announced the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka, the BJP is yet to come out with it own. The ruling party at the Centre is likely to announce its list of candidates for Karnataka on Monday, following the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting. Earlier, the meeting was scheduled for Friday.
The BJP, which has announced 195 names across many other states, is expected to announce names for the remaining Lok Sabha constituencies soon. According to sources, the party was earlier scheduled to announce names on March 8, but with Mahashivaratri, and also party leaders needing more time to finalise names of candidates, the task has been put off.
Sources from the party said that the national leaders have carried out intense research on each of the candidates from the list shared by the Karnataka unit. There was also a PPT presentation on the candidates.
At the meeting, the leaders discussed the advantages and disadvantages of fielding candidates, their strengths, support from local leaders, their loyalty, and other issues. There was a meeting on Thursday.
BJP leaders in Delhi are planning to change at least half of the sitting MPs, including for Bangalore North, Bidar, Belagavi, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Kolar, and Chikkaballapura. In its alliance with JDS, the BJP has some challenge in finalising candidates for certain constituencies like Mandya and Kolar.
Sources added that the leaders are targeting 400 seats this time and Karnataka has the potential to help us reach this number. “Hence, more time is being taken to arrive at the final list of contenders. We want to retain the 2019 number,” sources said. Meanwhile, JDS leaders in Karnataka have started meetings in a bid to increase their base.