BJP core committee holds another marathon meeting. Here’s what was discussed

The core committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held another marathon meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday, in which discussions on seat-sharing with allies for Uttar Pradesh assembly election took place, news agency ANI reported.

The meeting, chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah, was held at the BJP headquarters. It lasted for 14 hours and concluded at 1.35am on Thursday. The core committee held its first meeting on Tuesday which lasted for 10 hours.

The leaders present at the meeting also finalised candidates for 172 seats where polling will be held in first three phases of UP polls, ANI reported. These names will be discussed in the BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting on Thursday, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be present, before being announced officially, according to the news agency. The seat-sharing deal will also be announced after the CEC meeting, ANI said.

Among the constituencies discussed in Wednesday’s meeting is Ayodhya, from where chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s name has been proposed, party functionaries aware of the matter said.

Adityanath is a five-time member of Parliament from Gorakhpur and also the head of the Gorakhnath Math. He is currently a member of the state’s legislative council.

Chief minister Adityanath, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, BJP UP election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, party’s national general secretary (organization) BL Santhosh and UP general secretary (organization) Sunil Bansal were present at the meeting, according to ANI.

Among the allies, NISHAD Party president Sanjay Nishad was also present, and Minister of State (MoS) for Commerce and Industry and Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel were also present and discussed seat-sharing, the ANI report said.

The BJP had announced alliance with Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD), which represents the state’s Other Backward Class (OBC) fishing community, in September last year.

In the last 2017 assembly elections, BJP had given 11 seats to Apna Dal while 8 seats to Omprakash Rajbhar’s party. However, Om Prakash Rajbhar is now with Samajwadi Party (SP).

Elections for the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10. The other phases will be held on polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7, according to the schedule announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The counting of votes will take place on March 10.