Chikkamagaluru, Feb 25: Veteran BJP leader and its Parliamentary Board member B S Yediyurappa on Sunday said that he expects the party to release the first list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls in thee or four days.

The former Karnataka Chief Minister said the atmosphere was in favour of the BJP across the country and in the state, because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.

"...we will get to know in three or four days, who is the candidate and if there are any changes...I expect it (first list to be released in three or four days)," Yediyurappa said in response to a question.

Because of Modi, across the the country and even in Karnataka there is an atmosphere in favour of the BJP, and the party's effort is to win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, he further said, adding that "I'm confident that we will be successful in this."

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The BJP had swept the 2019 general elections, bagging 25 of the total 28 seats in the state, while Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent backed by the party had also emerged victorious in Mandya.

To a question about Sumalatha Ambareesh holding meeting with her supporters amid reports that the BJP may cede the Mandya seat to alliance partner JD(S), Yediyurappa said, "nothing has been discussed, I don't have any information, things will be clear in a couple of days."

The former CM said Shobha Karandlaje, who is Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare in the last Lok Sabha elections had won with a margin of over 3.5 lakh votes from Udupi-Chikmagalur segment and will win with an even bigger margin this time. "There should not be any doubt about it."

A postcard campaign has been initiated allegedly by some BJP workers urging PM Narendra Modi and party national president J P Nadda to not field Karandlaje from Udupi-Chikmagalur and give priority to new face.

Calling the campaign "systematic conspiracy", Yediyurappa said, "we know who is behind it, she (Karandlaje) will not lose courage, every one knows she has done a good job as union Minister. She will win with a bigger margin than last time," he added.

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ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.

The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.

Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.