BJP adopts wait and watch policy for polls

The party’s election committee, which met on Saturday to select candidates, chose not to hurry through the process and wait until the Opposition parties seal their poll pact. Besides, the ruling party is facing the problem of plenty in selecting candidates. There are at least three to four strong contenders for each constituency, and the leaders, especially those within the election committee, are lobbying for their own candidates, party sources said.

The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, State Party Chief Sadananda Gowda,  National General Secretary Ananth Kumar, ministers K S Eshwarappa and Jagadish Shettar and others. The last date for filing nomination papers is December 1.

Normally, the BJP is ahead of other parties in finalising its candidates and comes out with the first list of names for constituencies, where the party is strong. However, this time the list is yet to come.

“The party have had a tough time wherever the two Opposition parties have joined hands in the past elections. In the byelections to Govindrajnagar Constituency BJP candidate V Somanna was defeated. The two Opposition parties are now close to finalising seat sharing in 8:17 ratio. We, therefore, need to be cautious in this election,” a senior leader said.

The committee has almost finalised candidates for eight to 10 constituencies where it is said to be strong. They are Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagalur, Belgaum, Dharwad, Uttar Kannada, Shimoga, Kodagu, Bellary and others. However, the list has not been released, sources said.

For constituencies in the old Mysore region, where the party hold is not that strong, the committee has not been able to find right candidates. Once the Congress and the JD(S) decide their candidates, the BJP will finalise the candidates in these constituencies.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sadananda Gowda said the committee has chalked out guidelines for candidate selection as there are many aspirants. Based on the guidelines, candidates will be shortlisted and the list will be forwarded to the high command on Monday morning. The list may be finalised by evening that day, he added.

Calendar

* Issue of notifications: Nov 24
* Last date of filing nominations: Dec 1
* Scrutiny of nominations: Dec 2
* Last date for withdrawal: Dec 4
* Date of poll: Dec 18
* Counting of votes : Dec 21