BJP to contest 445 Lok Sabha seats, 40 allies on board
The BJP is likely to contest around 440-445 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 parliamentary elections. The BJP has announced candidates for the 405 LS seats so far and candidates for some seats in UP, Punjab, Odisha and a couple of other states are yet to be announced. It has announced names of 24 candidates in Maharashtra and at least half a dozen more names may be announced in the next couple of days.
Interestingly, the BJP has entered into alliances with smaller parties in almost all the states to drum up its winning target of 370 seats and 400 for the NDA. The number of allies has touched 40, according to BJP sources. It tried hard to stitch alliances with the BJD in Odisha, JJP in Haryana and Akali Dal in Punjab but the talks failed. On the other hand, the BJP gave up its claim on seats to strengthen the NDA in a few North Eastern states.
Insiders say that PM Modi is sacrificing some of the seats as he wants to bring big reforms in his third term and wants everybody on board in his third term. The BJP, therefore, is welcoming all & sundry from all parties into its fold even at the cost of hurting the sentiments of the party cadre. It has dropped more than 100 sitting Mps including ministers and is experimenting with new faces.
This will be BJP's highest ever tally compared to 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls despite having the 40-odd allies in states. PM Modi was actively involved in bringing N Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh to open BJP's account which had drawn a blank in 2019. But in neighbouring Telangana, the BJP is going solo like in many other states. In 2014 the BJP fielded 428 candidates and won 282 seats while in 2019 it fielded 437 candidates and emerged victorious in 303 seats.
