Final meet over, BJP nominee lists for Rajasthan, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh ready

NEW DELHI: The long awaited second list of BJP candidates for Rajasthan and the first one for Telangana assembly polls are likely soon as the party's central election committee met again on Friday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders, including home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and party president J P Nadda.
Sources said the CEC meeting was the last one for polls in five states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. They said the CEC ratified the list of candidates for Rajasthan, Telangana and for the remaining seats in Madhya Pradesh.
The core committees from the three states held deliberations for several hours in the last couple of days amid strong possibility of more Lok Sabha MPs and Union ministers being fielded.
While candidates for Chhattisgarh have already been announced barring a few, the list for Rajasthan is crucial and will be interesting as the party has already fielded seven MPs. Party sources confirmed that many more MPs are likely to figure in the next list even as a few of them had expressed reluctance.
It is also to be seen how the leadership deals with ticket aspirants known to be close to former chief minister Vasundhara Raje as many of her supporters were omitted in the first list.
The party is yet to name any candidate for the 119-member Telangana assembly election slated for November 30.
It has declared 41 candidates, including seven MPs, for the November 25 election to the 200-member Rajasthan assembly and 136 for the November 17 election to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly.
There is a view that some Union ministers, including Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, may be fielded in the Rajasthan polls.
Its Madhya Pradesh candidates include three Union ministers and four other MPs. It has declared most of its nominees for Chhattisgarh and Mizoram polls.