BJP to convene parliamentary board, expected to choose candidate for 2022 presidential election today
21 June, 2022 | Riya Girdhar
Members of the management team attended a crucial meeting that BJP chief JP Nadda had earlier on Sunday to strategize about the approaching election.
Tuesday’s parliamentary board meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to see the party finalise their choice for the July 18 election, according to sources.
The meeting is likely to include Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually.
To administer the election, the BJP has already assembled a 14-member management committee. The team’s coordinator is Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi also gave his decision of not standing as an opposition candidate for the elections.
Senior leaders like Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ashwini Vaishnaw, G Kishan Reddy, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Vinod Tawde, CT Ravi, Sambit Patra, and others were present at the meeting.
Notably, Rajnath Singh, the defence minister, and Nadda were tasked with meeting with representatives from all major parties to discuss the presidential candidate.
They have had discussions with Sharad Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Mamata Banerjee, the president of the Trinamool Congress, Nitish Kumar, the leader of the Janata Dal (United), Naveen Patnaik, the head of the Biju Janata Dal, and Farooq Abdullah, the leader of the National Conference, but so far no resolution has been reached.
Nominations must be submitted by June 29 in order to be considered, voting will take place on July 18 and results will be announced on July 21.
On June 15, opposition leaders gathered in the nation’s capital and made the decision to field a single candidate for the presidency.
In order to get agreement on running a joint candidate against the NDA in the presidential elections, opposition party leaders from 17 political parties participated in a critical meeting that Mamata Banerjee called.
Participating at the June 15 meeting at the Constitution Club of India in New Delhi were the TMC, Congress, CPI, CPI(M), CPIML, RSP, Shiv Sena, NCP, RJD, SP, National Conference, PDP, JD(S), DMK, RLD, IUML, and JMM.