UP BJP poll panel huddles to finalise bypoll candidates

LUCKNOW: The UP BJP on Thursday evening convened a meeting of its state election committee comprising top party leaders including chief minister Yogi Adityanath, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh and state BJP general secretary (organisation), Sunil Bansal.
While the committee refrained from revealing the outcome of the meeting, sources said that it finalised the names of candidates for the seven bypoll bound Assembly seats.
The committee, sources said, would be sending the finalised names to the central leadership for its approval before making it public. Sources said the meeting was also attended by BJP’s national general secretary, Arun Singh, who reportedly shared the feedback of the central leadership.
The development comes even as the UP BJP brass has started virtual meetings with sector and booth level functionaries in all bypoll bound seats. The meetings are being addressed by Yogi and Singh. Party sources said that the committee has already received the feedback of sector and booth level functionaries on the prospective party candidates. “The feedback would be crucial while finalising candidates,” a BJP leader said.
Sources privy to the meeting said the committee was of the view that the party functionaries need to play up public welfare schemes of the Centre and state government.