State BJP to finalise LS candidates today

Jaipur: The BJP’s core election committee in the state, which includes CM Bhajan Lal Sharma, state president C P Joshi, former state president Satish Poonia and former leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore, will hold a final discussion on the panel of candidates for all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan at Delhi at 5pm on Thursday. The core committee will submit the final names to the party’s national president, J P Nadda. During the meeting, the leaders will discuss not just the probable candidates but also the issues to be highlighted in the polls. “The leaders have discussed the renomination of sitting party MPs. They have held discussions on sitting MPs who didn’t score well in the party’s internal surveys,” said a party source. The party has been winning all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state for the past two elections, 2014 and 2019. Four seats are vacant due to their MPs having won Assembly polls: Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Baba Balak Nath, and Hanuman Beniwal.“The leaders will discuss the possibility of fielding new leaders and giving party MLAs the chance to contest the polls. Baba Balak Nath may be renominated from Alwar if the party doesn’t field Union minister Bhupendra Yadav. The caste calculation also matters, considering that some castes were upset with the ticket distribution in Assembly polls. Since the number of seats in the state is small, the party is carefully planning ticket distribution in order to not upset any major caste,” said a party leader.