The Bharatiya Janata Party's central
election committee will meet in New Delhi from November
1-3 to finalise the list of candidates for next month's
assembly election in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and
Rajasthan.
The party's state units have been asked to finalise
their recommendations by October 30, so that they could
reach the capital with their respective lists for final
approval by November 1.
BJP general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu said the CEC will
take up Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram on November 1,
Rajasthan on the following day and the Delhi list on
November 3.
Assembly by-elections are scheduled in Bengal, Bihar,
Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. A Lok Sabha
by-election is scheduled in Bharuch in Gujarat.
The BJP high command has directed the four state units,
which are going to the polls on November 25, to set up
manifesto committees and get the drafts ready by October
20 so that the central leadership can meet in New Delhi
on October 23 to give final touches to them. ''The
states will release their manifestos after the
nominations are announced in their respective states,''
Naidu added.
The BJP high command has also decided to appoint
election campaign committees for these four states.
Naidu said the party will step up its campaign against
the ''jungle raj'' in Bihar. He gave the latest example
of an alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old girl by
relatives of a former chief minister. ''The culprits are
moving freely in Patna,'' he charged.
Quoting some surveys carried out in Bihar, he said one
survey showed that 70 per cent of the people favoured
imposition of Article 356 in the state while another
shows that 50 per cent of the population favoured
imposition of President's rule.
Naidu said the BJP will ''persuade'' the government to
bring out a white paper on the misuse of Article 356 by
previous governments so that it could be presented
during the winter session of Parliament. ''We want a
debate on this issue both inside and outside
Parliament,'' he asserted.
Reiterating the demand for a public debate on the use of
Article 356, the BJP leader said his party will launch a
mass campaign to apprise the people of Bihar about the
views of various political parties on this score. ''We
will also launch a mass awareness programme on Bihar
throughout the country after the festival season,'' he
added.