The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may release its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha election as early as the last week of February, right after the party completes its National Council meetings scheduled for the next weekend.
Top sources told the The Hindu that after the BJP drew up a list in 2021-22 of 160 or so “vulnerable” seats, where the party has never won or has consistently come second, a decision to announce candidates early for at least some seats where the party does not fancy its chances was taken.
“A list of 62 such seats was to have been announced at the end of January itself but returning allies like the Janata Dal(U) and possible ones like the Akali Dal and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) have delayed BJP’s strategy to announce candidates early,” said a senior source in the party.
The strategy of announcing candidates for some seats early worked for the BJP in the recent Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan (seat announcements in Telangana and Mizoram were delayed in comparison). “In Madhya Pradesh, of the 34 seats announced early in the first list, seats the party considered tough for itself, the BJP won 24,” the source said.
BJP sources also said that MPs who were fielded in the Assembly elections and lost are likely not to be repeated from their Lok Sabha seats. “There will be some exceptions, possibly in Telangana, with Bandi Sanjay who lost the Assembly election but is MP from Karimnagar, likely to be repeated,” the source said.
The party has also sounded out Union Ministers who are Rajya Sabha MPs on the need to contest Lok Sabha election. With the exception of a couple of Ministers, this strategy too is also on track.
