The Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has constituted a 26-member election management committee for the state assembly polls due later this year.

Five invited members are also included in the committee, the announcement of which was made on Saturday night.

The committee, headed by its convener and Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, includes Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP state president VD Sharma, a party spokesperson said.

Other members include Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Prahlad Singh Patel, and four MP cabinet ministers - Narottam Mishra, Bhupendra Singh, Tulsi Silawat and Govind Singh.

Five invited members of the committee are - BJP national joint general secretary (organisation) Shivprakash, Union minister Bhupender Yadav, who is the party's election in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, Union minister and election joint in-charge Ashwini Vaishnaw, besides party's general secretary Muralidhar Rao and state general secretary (organisation) Hitanand, the spokesperson said.

Asked about no woman included in the election management committee, BJP's state secretary Rajneesh Agrawal told PTI, “The Mahila Morcha (BJP's women wing) is currently running an important campaign to facilitate the reach of benefits of the BJP government's flagship scheme Ladli Bahna Yojana to women in the state. All the office-bearers and leaders are engaged in this campaign.” He said women are playing an important role in the party at different places.

The BJP also announced a 19-member manifesto drafting committee headed by former minister state Jayant Malaiya for the assembly polls due in November this year.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.