BJP Central Election Committee To Meet Today To Discuss State Poll Preparations

The BJP's Central Election Committee, whose members include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders, will meet on Wednesday evening to hold deliberations on the upcoming state assembly polls, party leaders said.

The CEC members are expected to take stock of the ongoing poll preparations, gather feedback and shape the party's strategy, including for selecting candidates, in the meeting, sources said. Besides Modi, the CEC includes party president J P Nadda, and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah among other leaders.

The party's decision to hold the meeting so early - the CEC usually meets only after poll dates are announced, underlines the significance it has attached to the five state elections, the last round of assembly contest before the all-important Lok Sabha polls.

It also indicates a greater involvement of the central leadership in overseeing the state poll campaign, sources noted. Five states, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram, are expected to go to the polls in November-December. The BJP is in power in only Madhya Pradesh and is running an intense campaign to oust the Congress government in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the BRS in Telangana.