BJP likely to field sitting, former MLAs

The state BJP will field some sitting and former MLAs in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. The party will give preference to women and young candidates with a clean record in ticket distribution, a party official said.

State party general secretary Vijay Rupani said the party had received around 650 applications from workers for contesting the polls. “Our observers met a total of 8,000 workers across the state from which a list of around 300 names has been prepared,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

He said the state BJP parliamentary board would carry out scrutiny of the background of the applicants for preparing a shortlist of candidates to be submitted to the BJP high command in New Delhi by Saturday.

The party was to announce its list of candidates for 25 constituencies (LK Advani’s name from Gandhinagar has already been announced) by March 5. However, sources said the list of candidates would be delayed owing to the local units’ opposition to imposing ‘outsider’ candidates.

Rupani said the party’s analysis showed that the BJP was ahead in 21 constituencies. “The seats that will be difficult for the BJP are Anand, Kheda, Dahod, Chhota Udepur,” said Rupani.