Gujarat BJP's Parliamentary Board on Tuesday finalised the panel of names of candidates for Lok Sabha seats in the state which will soon be sent to the central leadership for approval.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, state BJP in-charge Om Mathur and the party's Gujarat unit president Jitu Vaghani were among those who attended the three-day meeting that concluded on Tuesday. The names will be sent to the BJP's central Parliamentary Board for final selection of candidates, a party leader said. Gujarat will vote in a single phase on 23 April.
"After deliberations spread over three days, the panel of names has been prepared for all the 26 seats of the state," Gujarat BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya told reporters in Gandhinagar.
The panel of names may contain two to four names for each seat, party sources said. The BJP had won all the 26 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The sources said no names have been suggested for the Gandhinagar seat, currently held by party veteran LK Advani, who has won from there since 1991.
Two sitting MPs of the BJP, Liladhar Vaghela (Patan) and Vitthal Radadiya (Porbandar), have declined to contest the polls due to health reasons, the sources said, adding that they will be replaced.
On the other hand, the Congress has so far declared candidates for four Lok Sabha seats in the state – Ahmedabad West, Anand, Vadodara and Chhota Udepur.
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