The meeting of the BJP parliamentary board, its top decision-making body, is currently underway to take an in-principle decision on whether the party should field candidates who are above the age of 75, Rajya Sabha members and sitting legislators in the Lok Sabha polls. The party has set 75 as the age limit for ministerial positions.
The Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to take place between April and May. The election commission is expected to announce the election schedule either over the weekend or early next week.
Among those present in the meeting were union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh.
Apart from the three main points of discussion, a BJP leader said the party top brass would also discuss a range of issues related to its campaign for the elections and to strategise its agenda in the days ahead.
A senior BJP leader had said that the party wanted to meet and take a call on giving tickets to the three categories of candidates. He also said that depending on the decision taken in the parliamentary board meeting, the party would start announcing the names of its candidates from next week.
In 2014, after Narendra Modi became prime minister, the party had adopted an upper age limit of 75 for ministerial posts. As part of this decision, Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel and Union ministers Najma Heptualla and Kalraj Mishra resigned after they turned 75.
Last month, the BJP leadership had hinted that the 75-plus age bar was only for ministerial positions and not to contest elections.
A decision to not field those who are already over the age of 75 would mean that veterans such as LK Advani (91), Murli Manohar Joshi (85), BC Khanduri (84), and Kalraj Mishra (77) would be left out.
The board will also take a call on whether to field Rajya Sabha members or not.
