New Delhi [India], April 8: The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its first list of 72 candidates for the upcoming elections of Karnataka Assembly 2018. There was a Central Election Committee meeting at the party headquarters, here to decide the names of the candidates. The meeting was chaired by BJP national president Amit Shah, and the attendees included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, former Karnataka chief minister B. S. Yeddyurappa, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, among others.

The BJP is striving to come to power in the SOuthern state after a gap of five years. With just about a month to go for the elections, the battle between BJP and Congress has already begun, on social media as well as on ground.  Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect its representatives for the 225-member assembly. The results of these elections will be out on May 15.

Check Out the List of 72 Candidates for Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 Announced by BJP:

The last date to file for the nominations is April 24. The nominations will be carefully observed on April 25 and the last day for withdrawal is on April 27. In order to ensure smooth polling, Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) will be deployed at all 56,696 polling booths across the state. About five crore voters will exercise their franchise to elect members for constituencies. The Congress is currently in power in the state and the Assembly will expire on May 28. Currently, the Congress has 122 seats against the BJP's 43.

Both the political parties have been extensively campaigning for the position even before the schedule was announced. With the list of candidates out, the campaigning will only get stronger. The Janata Dal Secular party has also announced candidates for 126 constituencies.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 08, 2018 11:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).