Ahead of Gujarat Assembly elections, PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday met other party leaders to finalise the list of candidates for the polls to be held next month, sources said.
The BJP's central election committee meeting, chaired by Shah, was also attended by state Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. A preliminary list prepared by the state unit of the BJP was discussed, the sources said. Gujarat's Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, BJP state in-charge Bhupender Yadav and state BJP president Jitu Vaghani were also present at the two-hour long meeting.
"Discussions on most of the seats for Gujarat election has been completed. The list of candidates would be announced at an appropriate time," Union minister J P Nadda said soon after the meeting.
Later, talking to reporters the Gujarat BJP chief Vaghani said that the party's state unit has made its presentation before the central leadership and it is confident of winning more than 150 seats.
Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will take place on December 9 and 14. The results will be announced along with that of Himachal Pradesh on December 18. The first phase of the polls in Gujarat will cover 89 constituencies in 19 districts while the second phase will cover 93 constituencies spread across 14 districts.
In Gujarat, the home state of PM Modi, the Congress is trying to dislodge the ruling BJP which is holding power in the state for almost two decades now.
