SPL CORRESPONDENT
Seat-sharing pact with UPPL sealed
NEW DELHI, March 4: The BJP on Thursday finalised its list of candidates for the first two phases, besides finalising the seat-sharing arrangement with UPPL.
The Central Election Committee (CEC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi finalised names of candidates for 86 seats barring those left for AGP, with which seat-sharing negotiations are still on.The meeting was also attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, among others.
The State BJP was represented by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, State Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma, State BJP president Ranjeet Dass and national general secretary Dilip Saikia.
Party sources said that the names of candidates for first two phases (47+39) has been finalised by the CEC and the list is likely to be announced tomorrow.
Meanwhile, BJP state chief told newsmen that they have finalised names of 86 seats, while 12 seats have been kept pending because of some issues. “All candidates barring those from AGP and UPPL have been finalised tonight,” he said, adding that the list will be announced jointly tomorrow.
Sources said that further discussions with AGP will be held tomorrow ahead of the CEC meeting which will finalise the list of candidates for rest of the seats, including the third phase. He further added that the discussions with AGP were in the final stage and will be completed by tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the BJP and UPPL finalised its seat-sharing arrangement this evening. According to the agreement, UPPL will contest nine seats in Bodoland Territorial Region, while BJP will contest in three seats. The UPPL has been given three more seats outside BTR area mainly to checkmate the grand alliance led by the Congress party.
Lok Sabha MP Naba Sarania is likely to join either UPPL or the BJP and may be offered the Barama seat, sources informed.
