Chandigarh, Aug. 27 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to announce its candidates for the Punjab assembly elections, due early next year, by the first week of December, well ahead of the polls expected to be held in February next year, as the party steps up preparations to expand its electoral footprint in the state.

National general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh, who concluded his two-day visit to Punjab on Tuesday evening, directed the party's state general secretaries to begin identifying probable candidates for all 117 assembly constituencies.

Santosh gave the directions during a closed-door meeting with the state general secretaries in Amritsar. According to a state general secretary who attended the meeting, Santo...