New Delhi: In the latest political development, former Uttarakhand Congress chief Kishore Upadhyaya is likely to join BJP on Thursday. He could contest the Assembly polls from Tehri constituency, ANI reported citing Bharatiya Janata Party sources.
According to the ANI report, Uttarakhand Congress screening committee members met on Wednesday afternoon and discussed the third list of candidates for the state which is likely to be released by Thursday.
Earlier in the day, BJP released a list of 9 candidates for the Uttarakhand Assembly election. The party has fielded former chief minister BC Khanduri's daughter Ritu Bhushan Khanduri from the Kotdwar assembly seat.
Eminently, the seat was won in 2017 by Harak Singh Rawat, who is presently in Congress.
In the interim, the BJP is probably going to deliver its manifesto for the upcoming Uttarakhand election on February 2, party sources told news agency ANI.
"BJP's manifesto for the Uttarakhand polls is likely to be released on February 2 in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari," ANI quoted a source as saying.
As per another ANI report, the BJP Central Election Committee (ECI) has authorised party president JP Nadda to conclude the other names of candidates for the BJP who will contest the upcoming elections of Uttarakhand, Goa, and Punjab.
The saffron party, which won 57 seats in the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly Elections, is likely to announce all its candidates by the end of the month for the upcoming polls.
On February 14, elections to the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly will be held. Votes will be conducted on March 10.