Himachal Assembly Elections 2017: BJP meet likely to pick poll candidates on Saturday

The BJP Central Election Committee is likely to meet here on Saturday to finalise the party's nominees for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election, scheduled to be held on November 9.

Top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amit Shah, are among the members of the committee.
The BJP is seeking to capture power in the hill state, which it had lost to the Congress in the 2007 Assembly polls.

Himachal, which has a 68-member Assembly, has a history of throwing the incumbent party out of power.

It remains to be seen if the saffron party announces its chief ministerial face in the run-up to the Himachal polls.

The Congress has announced Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh as its choice for the top post in the state again.

Two-time Himachal chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Union minister J P Nadda are being seen as the two most likely choices of the saffron party for the top post with the latter being considered a favourite because of his clean image and proximity to the party's central leadership.