BJP Central Election Committee meet: Candidates for UP, Manipur assembly polls to be declared

BJP's Central Election Committee, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah and other top party leaders, met on Thursday night to pick candidates for most of the remaining seats in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

It also finalised party nominees for a number of seats in the Manipur assembly elections scheduled for March 4 and 8. Both lists are likely to be released on Friday.

BJP has already declared candidates for 149 of the total 403 seats of the UP assembly. Sources said the CEC is yet to decide on candidates for many seats and they will be declared in the coming days.

The meeting went on for more than two hours. There was power outage for over close to 15 minutes but it did not interrupted the meeting due to alternative supply.

UP is scheduled for seven-phase elections dated February 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, March 4 and 8. Out of power in the largest state for over 15 years, the saffron party is pulling out all stops to end its barren phase. It is locked in a triangular fight involving Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance and BSP.