BJP’s top poll body meets to finalise election candidates

The CEC selects the party’s candidates for all legislative and parliamentary elections and oversees campaigns

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday chaired a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) central election committee (CEC) to finalise the party’s candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Delhi.

PM Narendra Modi with Union ministers JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah during a CEC meeting at BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Friday. (HT PHOTO)

The CEC meeting, which took place at the party headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg in central Delhi, was attended by BJP president JP Nadda, general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh, Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and other CEC members.

Elections to pick the 70-member assembly will be held on February 5, and the BJP has so far issued a list of 29 members.

The CEC selects the party’s candidates for all legislative and parliamentary elections and oversees campaigns.

The meeting was preceded by a meeting of the state’s core group, which was headed by Nadda and included Union home minister Amit Shah.

According to people aware of the details, the core group met at Nadda’s residence to discuss the probable candidates and the issues that will be the mainstay of the party’s election campaign.

The BJP, which has been out of power in Delhi for 27 years, has accused the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of “corruption” and “failing to fulfil promises”. The party refers to the now scrapped liquor policy and the chief minister’s luxurious bungalow as examples of the AAP’s corruption.