World | India
BJP announces candidates list for general election
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Thrsday announced its first list of candidates for the next general elections.
- By Ajay Jha, Chief Correspondent
- Published: 00:07 June 27, 2008
New Delhi: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Thrsday announced its first list of candidates for the next general elections.
The party intends to conclude the exercise by August, at least eight months ahead of the scheduled polls in order to give its nominees adequate time to do the preparatory work in their constituencies and give them a headstart over their rivals.
The party's central election committee is believed to have finalised 160 candidates, though it chose to name only half a dozen of them in the first list released yesterday. The list includes the name of its prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani who will seek re-election from Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat.
Former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu and veteran film actor Vinod Khanna will seek re-election from Amritsar and Gurdaspur constituencies of Punjab respectively, while the newly elected Lok Sabha member Anurag Thakur, who won the by-election from Hamipur in Himachal Pradesh last month, will contest the seat again.
Others in the first list include Sripad Naik (Goa North) and G.P.S. Rawat (Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand).
The committee is slated to meet again on July 11 to continue the exercise. According for former party chief M. Venkaiah Naidu, all state units have been instructed to short list prospective candidates and send the lists to the committee.
He said the idea behind early finalisation of party nominees is to give them a headstart over their rivals and replicate the formula for success in provincial polls in Gujarat and Karnataka, where the party announced its chief ministerial candidates and nominees in advance.
BJP intends to finalise 297 candidates by August. These are for the seats the party has won at least once in the last four general elections since 1996. The party also intends to initiate talks with its allies in the National Democratic Alliance for state-specific seat adjustments. The party may stick to its formula of entering into state-specific allies.
Share this article
News Editor's choice
-
Philippine massacre probe focuses on Arroyo ally
Arroyo vows justice for the victims and declares a national day of mourning
-
Italian PM gets 'Rockstar of the Year' title
Magazine hails Berlusconi's lifestyle
-
What drives Africa's new kind of refugees?
Warming-driven factors have led many in the continent to flee their homes
