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.
