Amit Shah arrives at the BJP office in Delhi for the Gujarat election meeting
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP's top leaders are meeting at the party's office in Delhi to decide the party's candidates for the Gujarat assembly election. The BJP's central election committee also includes Home Minister Amit Shah, party chief JP Nadda and other senior leaders.
Aiming to set a new record in winning seats, the BJP is looking to bring in younger faces and will drop many senior leaders from the list of candidates.
Those above 75 years old won't be given tickets, sources have said. Some senior leaders will also be dropped, including Saurav Patel and Bhupendra Singh Chudasma, sources said.
Former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel have said they will not contest.
Hardik Patel will contest from Viramgam and Alpesh Thakore will also be given a ticket, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Rivaba Patel, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, will contest from Jamnagar North.
Morbi's former MLA, Kantilal Amritiya, who was seen rescuing people after the bridge tragedy recently, will be given a ticket, sources said.
The BJP, which has been in power in Gujarat - PM Modi's home state - for over two decades, is confident of a win this time too.
Though Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, or AAP, is campaigning hard in Gujarat, the BJP maintains it faces no big threat from Mr Kejriwal's outfit.
The BJP is likely to finalise all 182 candidates during today's meeting and announce their names in the next few days.
Ahead of the meeting, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupender Patel and state BJP chief CR Patil met in Delhi to give the final touches to the list of possible candidate prepared by the party's state unit.
In the last Gujarat assembly election, the BJP won 99 seats and its main rival Congress took 77 seats.
Currently, the BJP's strength in the 182-member assembly is 112 after several MLAs from the Congress defected to it.
Gujarat will vote in two phases on December 1 and 5; counting is on December 8.