Patna: Senior BJP leaders will on April 11 or 12 deliberate over finalising the names of candidates it intends to field in the Legislative Council elections votes for which will be cast on April 26.

The election process for 11 Legislative Council seats got underway on Monday with the issuance of notification. April 16 is the last date for filing nominations and they will be scrutinised on April 17. Candidates can withdraw their names till April 19.

As far as the BJP is concerned, the term of three of its members - deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, health minister Mangal Pandey and another MLC Lal Babu Prasad - ends in May, while one of its sitting MLCs Satendra Kushwaha died recently.

Even though the party is losing four seats in the Upper House of the state legislature, going by its the current strength in the Legislative Assembly (53 MLAs), the party can ensure victory of just two of its candidates, while it has to rely on the support of other NDA constituents - the JDU, LJP and RLSP - to ensure victory of its third candidate.

"We will meet either on April 11 or 12 to discuss the names of the candidates. While the names of Sushil Kumar Modi and Mangal Pandey are certain, our main deliberations will be whether the party should stake claim to the third seat or not. If we vie for the third seat, we will have to shortlist three names and send it for approval of the central leadership," a BJP functionary told The Telegraph.

He hinted that fielding the third BJP candidate was almost certain, as the party had the support of three Independents and two MLAs each of the LJP and the RLSP in addition to the 11 votes of its own MLAs.

"Our alliance partner, the JDU, can easily ensure the victory of three of its candidates and will then have just seven votes to spare," added the BJP functionary.

Another senior BJP leader, however, maintained that the party will tread cautiously and consult all the NDA constituents before arriving at a final decision over staking claim to the third seat.

"We stand for complete unity in the NDA and any final decision on it will be taken after due consultation with the alliance constituents," said the BJP leader.

Sources in the JDU camp hinted that party president Nitish Kumar will decide on the seat issue. "Our president will hold parleys with leaders of the BJP and other NDA constituents on this issue," said a JDU functionary.

Out of the 11 seats for which voting will take place on April 26, the JDU had five and the BJP had four MLCs. Given by the NDA's current strength and support of the Independents, the two parties jointly cannot get more than six seats in the ensuing elections, the fate of which the members of the Assembly will decide.