Bengaluru, (DHNS): A core team of the state BJP has been silently shortlisting and informally assessing two to three candidates for each Assembly constituency for the next year's elections, during the course of the party's ongoing Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivarthana Yatra.

This informal assessment will form the base for a survey to be conducted by an independent agency on the winnability of the shortlisted candidates once the yatra concludes on January 28.

The final list will be drawn based on the survey findings and another simultaneously independent ground reality study, which will be conducted by party national president Amit Shah's office, BJP sources told DH.

This is Shah's way of drawing the candidates' list, the sources said and added that the party chief himself will spell out the specifics and the grounds on which the survey will have to be conducted.

The yatra, which was launched in Bengaluru on November 2, has since travelled 98 Assembly constituencies entering Koppal district on Friday.

A core team working closely with party state president B S Yeddyurappa and comprising former ministers Shobha Karandlaje, Aravind Limbavali, BJP state general secretary N Ravi Kumar, which has been part of most of the yatra, has been keeping track of probable candidates who could be given the ticket to contest polls.

According to party sources, the yatra has given an opportunity for informal assessment of probable candidates. The response of the crowd to the probables, their popularity and contribution to the party, feedback from people and also local BJP functionaries are being gathered. The involvement and contribution of the aspirants in organising the logistics of the yatra as it enters different constituencies is also being tracked. The yatra will traverse all the 224 constituencies in the state and has so far covered the districts of Tumakuru, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bidar, Kalaburagi and Yadgir.

Initially, the party top brass had drawn a list comprising around six to 10 candidates per constituency. It is now being shortened to two to three per constituency during the assessment, the sources added. However, the list is being kept a secret on the instruction of the BJP central leadership. The sources said the outcome of the survey will be conveyed to the shortlisted candidates and their opinion will be sought.