BJP likely to finalise list for Delhi poll on January 16

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 13

With an aim to finalise the list of its candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections, which will be held on February 8 in a single phase, the BJP has called the meeting of the central election committee (CEC) on January 16.

For past several days BJP president Amit Shah has been holding marathon deliberations to shortlist candidates for the polls, with a thrust emerging that the party intends to put up new faces with a credible track record of working on the ground for a long time.

“The CEC will meet on January 16, and the party will begin releasing names soon after to allow them enough time to file nomination papers. The party may held back names for a few Assembly constituencies for last minute changes by taking into account candidates of the rival outfits,” said a senior BJP functionary.

The core group of the BJP held a marathon meeting last night at Shah’s residence, which was further extended at the residence of the party’s city in-charge and Union Minister Prakash Javdekar. The strategy meeting again met at the residence of the BJP chief on Monday.

“Before the CEC meets on Thursday, the core group will fine tune the list of candidates which have been sourced from the city unit of the party as well as other sources. The Central leadership also has gathered ground inputs on the winnability of the candidates,” the functionary said, adding that the party is also considering fielding young faces, who may have served as councillors in the city’s three MCs.

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