Announcement on candidates in a day or two, says Babulal

Ranchi: State BJP president Babulal Marandi and opposition leader Amar Kumar Bauri, among a slew of state office bearers, returned to Ranchi on Wednesday after taking part in the parliamentary board meeting at party’s national headquarters later on Tuesday night. BJP national president JP Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah among other key leaders were present during the meeting which went till the midnight.
Contrary to the expectation of the saffron party starting to release its list of candidates from Wednesday ahead of the start of nomination for phase one of voting from October 18, state BJP leaders hinted that it may take some more time for the formal announcement.The last date for nomination for the first phase of voting is October 25. As many as 43 constituencies will go to polls in first phase.
While BJP insiders claimed that both seat-sharing and candidates have nearly been finalized in last night’s meeting, formal announcement will be done from the central head office after settling some minor issues with alliance partners.
Marandi said, “During the meeting, all aspects of the poll modalities were discussed with the central leadership, including candidature. Formal announcements will take place in a day or two.” Bauri echoed the same.
BJP is expected to fight on close to 70 seats while the rest will be spilt with different alliance partners namely AJSU-P, and JDU. Talks are also on with Chirag Paswan’s LJP, said sources.
Meanwhile, ticket aspirants are experiencing anxious moments. For instance, speculation are rife around the potential sidelining of veteran MLA CP Singh from Ranchi. The party is said to be considering to replace him with incumbent Hatia MLA Naveen Jaiswal in Ranchi.