PM Modi, Amit Shah attend BJP meet, 1st candidates' list likely by weekend

NEW DELHI: After several rounds of brainstorming, first meeting of BJP's central election committee in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and other senior leaders took place at party headquarters on Thursday, amid buzz that a large number of sitting MPs, possibly one-third, could be rested and several known faces from younger generation could be fielded.
Ahead of CEC meeting, home minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda called on Modi and are believed to have discussed parameters on which selection of candidates would be done.
Sources said Shah and Nadda, during their brainstorming with state leaders, discussed over 250 seats, including 50 in UP from where the party is expecting a landslide, improving tally of 62 seats it had won in 2019.
Party sources said first list is likely on Friday or Saturday.

Age and "non performance" are considered to be key factors in benching some of the incumbents. Party sources, however, said majority of sitting MPs belonging to OBC category would be repeated as BJP has emerged as community's overwhelming favourite and the top brass is said to be satisfied with performance of MPs belonging to the category.
Of BJP's 303 Lok Sabha MPs, 85 are from OBC category, almost 30%, a reflection of the party's popularity with OBC voters. Sources also said BJP brass is taking a "generous" approach in seat-sharing with NDA partners, including caste-based smaller parties in states like Uttar Pradesh, as these parties are seen as crucial to consolidate the alliance's prospects on the lines of Modi's exhortation of winning 370 seats for the party and 400 for the alliance.