Kolkata, Oct 22 — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to finalise the names of its candidates for the forthcoming polls across seven urban civic bodies at a crucial organisational meeting of the party scheduled for October 23.
Sources said that the party’s central observer for West Bengal, Sunil Bansal, is scheduled to arrive in West Bengal on Thursday night to attend Friday's meeting.
“In the meeting, he will discuss the candidate list and preparations for the upcoming municipal elections. If all goes well, the party might release the candidate list for the seven urban civic bodies in October immediately after Lakshmi Puja on October 25,” a state committee insider said.
Polling for these seven urban civic bodies, including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC), is tentatively scheduled for the last week of November this year, with results expected to be announced in the first week of December.
Besides these seven civic bodies, polling for the remaining municipalities and municipal corporations is scheduled for February next year.
Sources said the BJP’s top leadership intends to carry out an organisational reshuffle in the state prior to that.
As part of the reshuffle, several organisational district presidents may also be replaced.
“According to available information, 10 organisational district presidents of the party in the state might be changed before February next year,” said a party insider.
Meanwhile, while the BJP has almost completed the candidate finalisation process for the seven urban civic body polls, there is no movement on this front either in the Mamata Banerjee-led Mamata All India Trinamool Congress (MAITC) or in the Democratic Trinamool Congress led by Ritabrata Banerjee.
The CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress have also remained silent on the matter so far.