Shah meets PM Modi ahead of BJP CEC meet

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the crucial Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting of the BJP to discuss the names of party candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam.

Modi is also expected to attend the CEC meeting at the party headquarters here on Thursday evening along with Shah, BJP President J.P. Nadda and other senior leaders. The CEC is a body that decides who the candidates will be for the different constituencies in the poll-bound states.

It has been learnt that the BJP leaders will go into a huddle to finalise the first list of candidates for 60 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal that will go to the polls in the first two phases. The first two phases of polling in Assam and West Bengal will be held on March 27 and April 1.

The elections in West Bengal, poised to be a stiff contest between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, will be held in eight phases, beginning with 30 seats on March 27. The votes will be counted on May 2.


According to sources, the CEC is likely to discuss the party candidates for 86 seats in Assam where polls will be held in the first two phases. The third and final phase of polling in Assam will be held on April 6. The results will be out on May 2. - IANS