PM meets top BJP leaders to finalise Maha, Haryana lists

New Delhi: The BJP central election committee met here on Sunday evening to finalise the names of candidates for the coming Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana. The meeting attended by core group leaders, including chief ministers M.L. Khattar of Haryana and Devendra Fadnavis of Maharashtra, was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, working president J.P. Nadda, election in-charges, state in-charges and top leaders from both states. Both states will go to the polls on October 21. October 4 is the last date for the filing of nominations.

In Haryana, the BJP has set a target of Mission 75-plus while in Maharashtra the party could announce the seat-sharing formula with its allies, including the Shiv Sena, on Monday.

Haryana CM M.L. Khattar may be renominated from Karnal Assembly seat, while sportspersons Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt and former Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh, who recently joined the BJP, could also be fielded.

While the BJP rejected the Shiv Sena’s suggestion of contesting an equal number of seats, it has, sources said, offered the deputy chief minister’s post to the Sena, whose youth wing chief Aditya Thackeray, the son of party supremo Uddhav Thackeray, is making his electoral debut in this Assembly election.

Mr Thackeray will be standing from the Worli seat. In the last polls, which both the BJP and Sena contested separately, the BJP had won 122 and the Sena won 63 seats. The total strength of the state Assembly is 288.

In both states, development and abrogation of Article 370 are going to be main highlights of the BJP’s poll campaign.

After the CEC meeting ended, Mr Modi, Mr Shah and Mr Nadda held a separate meeting.

In Haryana, more than a thousand people had lobbied for 90 seats, where the BJP had announced that family members of sitting MLAs or MPs would not be considered. The party leadership has also ruled out the names of the heads of Zila Parishad and Nagar Palikas. After the CEC meet on Haryana ended, Mr Khattar, state in-charge Anil Jain and state unit chief Subhash Barala held a meeting at Haryana Bhavan. Union minister Krishna Pal Gujjar, who was seeking a ticket for his son, met the trio. Sources said the BJP may field most of its sitting MLAs in Haryana, where the party formed its first government in 2014.

Earlier during the day, the BJP also announced names for the byeelections to state Assemblies. A total of 32 names were announced by the BJP for 13 states.