The BJP has already kicked off its campaign, spearheaded by PM Modi across most states.

Highlights One of these would be party chief Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley's meeting

The BJP has already kicked off its campaign spearheaded by PM Modi

The national elections will be held from April 11 in seven phases

Top leaders of the BJP are holding a series of meetings today to discuss preparations for the national elections which begin on April 11. One of these would be party chief Amit Shah and senior leader Arun Jaitley's meeting with party spokespersons. Besides, a committee led by Union minister Rajnath Singh will also meet to discuss the party's election manifesto, for which the party is crowdsourcing ideas.

The BJP is reaching out to around 10 lakh families to invite governance ideas in various spheres that include finance, agriculture, foreign policy and women's empowerment. Twelve senior leaders - including Smriti Irani, Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekar have been tasked with sifting through the ideas accumulated.

The drive to crowdsource ideas - called Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat, Modi Ke Saath - was launched on February 3, along with the BJP's month-long Sankalp Yatra. Besides the usual means like e-mail, snail mail and collection boxes for handwritten notes, tablets would be provided on the 300 "election raths" to jot down ideas.

The BJP pushed its campaign into high gear after the Election Commission announced the dates for the national elections. The elections would be held in seven phases till May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Last evening's announcement marked the beginning of a mammoth exercise in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a second term in office, while the opposition attempts to join forces to recapture power.

The BJP has already kicked off its campaign, spearheaded by PM Modi across most states. The Prime Minister has also regularly kept in touch with party workers. The last of these was a huge videoconference held in February, which the party said was the biggest ever.

Titled "Mera booth sabse Majboot (My booth is the strongest)" the videoconference helped the Prime Minister touch base with around 10 crore party workers from across the country, the BJP said.

The programme, however, was criticised by the opposition as it came amid the heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the air strikes at Pakistan's Balakot.