LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also attend the meeting virtually on Thursday.The meeting of BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) is underway to finalize the names of the candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

The high-level meetings of BJP regarding the upcoming assembly elections in five states including UP have been going on for the past two days. The candidates of nearly 175 Assembly seats are to be finalized today. The meeting is being held at the party headquarters in the national capital. Elections for the 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10. Once a decision has been taken, the names of the candidates for the first and second phases may be announced in a couple of days.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, UP BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh and Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma are also attending the meet.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP UP Poll in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP UP General Secretary (Organization) Sunil Bansal and National General Secretary (organization) BL Santosh are attending the meeting while BJP President JP Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are likely to join virtually.

Meanwhile, there are speculations that more resignations are expected in the Yogi government in UP and BJP in the last two days. According to sources, there is a list of a total of thirteen MLAs who might quit BJP. Swami Prasad Maurya has already warned of something big happening on January 14.

Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Congress MLA from Behat (Saharanpur) Naresh Saini, Sirsaganj (Firozabad) MLA Hari Om Yadav, and former Samajwadi Party MLA Dr Dharmpal Singh on Wednesday joined the Bhartiya Janata Party.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is likely to contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections from Ayodhya, said sources.