BJP Announces 27-Member Manifesto Committee for Lok Sabha Polls; Rajnath Singh to Lead Panel

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday unveiled a list of 27 members who will constitute the party’s manifesto committee for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The announcement was made by BJP National President J.P. Nadda.

Leading the panel will be Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman serving as the convenor, and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as the co-convenor.

The panel members also include Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Bhupender Yadav, Kiren Rijiju, Arjun Munda, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Smriti Irani, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, among others.

Additionally, the 27-member committee includes Chief Ministers from four states: Mohan Yadav, CM of Madhya Pradesh; Himanta Biswa Sarma, CM of Assam; Vishnu Deo Sai, CM of Chhattisgarh; and Bhupendra Patel, CM of Gujarat.

However, not all chief ministers, including Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh, are part of the committee. Party sources suggest that senior leaders who aren’t on the committee may be involved in other election-related activities.

Bihar leaders Sushil Kumar Modi and Ravi Shankar Prasad, Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, former Union Minister Jual Oram, and party organisational leaders like Vinod Tawde, Radha Mohan Das Agrawal, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Tariq Mansoor, and Anil Antony, have also been included in the committee.

Antony and Mansoor represent the party’s Christian and Muslim communities, respectively. Former Haryana BJP president OP Dhankar is also a committee member. The party is currently gathering suggestions from various groups.

Last month, Nadda, launched “Viksit Bharat Modi ki Guarantee” video vans, which are travelling across the country to collect public input on the contents of its manifesto.

The ruling NDA government, led by the BJP, is aiming for a third consecutive term, with an alliance goal of securing more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha to form the next government in the world’s largest democracy.

All eyes are on two major political alliances: the INDIA bloc and the NDA. The INDIA bloc includes parties such as the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), and others, while the NDA is made up of parties like the BJP, PMK, JD(U), TDP, and others.

The upcoming general election is scheduled to be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1. Nearly 97 crore eligible voters will cast their votes to elect representatives for the 543-member Lower House of Parliament. The election results are due to be announced on June 4. Additionally, assembly elections in four states – Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim – will also take place.

(With inputs from PTI)