NEW DELHI/SHILLONG: The first meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Bharatiya Janata Party to finalise the names of probable candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls was held in New Delhi on Saturday.
BJP State President, Shibun Lyngdoh, said that the names of the candidates could not be finalised in one sitting and that the CEC would meet again, probably on January 30, to finalise the names.
The CEC meeting was attended by top leaders of the party including some leaders from the State BJP.
Sources close to the Central unit of the BJP, however, divulged that a meeting was held at BJP President Amit Shah’s residence on Friday night to zero in on about 15 seats with the rest to be decided by the party’s parliamentary board on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by State BJP leader AL Hek and others, party sources said.
BJP is leaving no stone unturned to form the government in Meghalaya what with the party getting a shot in the arm with four sitting MLAs coming into its fold recently. According to sources, the strategic meeting at Shah’s residence was convened to discuss the party’s seat-wise strengths and weaknesses in the three NE states going to polls in February. Winning the Assembly elections in these three states will ensure that the BJP gets a much-needed foothold in the north-east before the 2019 Parliamentary elections.
The meeting at Shah’s residence was important for various reasons: The party still has the option to consolidate its support base in the weak seats and there would be a seat-wise review as well, sources said.
The BJP in Meghalaya will leave “some” seats for the NPP and allied parties even in the absence of any pre-poll alliance.
