 "Former Congress MP Naveen Jindal (left) joins BJP. He will contest from Kurukshetra in Haryana Photo: PTI")
Former Congress MP Naveen Jindal (left) joins BJP. He will contest from Kurukshetra in Haryana. (Photo: PTI)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its fifth list, comprising 111 candidates for the Lok Sabha (LS) polls, including industrialist Naveen Jindal, actors Arun Govil and Kangana Ranaut, and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
The party denied a ticket to its Pilibhit LS member Varun Gandhi, fielding Jitin Prasada instead. However, his mother, Maneka Gandhi, will again contest from Sultanpur.
From Bareilly, the party’s candidate is former legislator Chhatarpal Singh Gangwar, replacing its multiple-term Member of Parliament (MP) from that seat, former Union minister Santosh Gangwar, who has turned 75.
The party did not renominate its Buxar MP Ashwini Chaubey and Satyadev Pachauri from Kanpur. It has also replaced Union minister and former Army Chief V K Singh from Ghaziabad, fielding Atul Garg from the constituency.
The BJP announced 18 candidates from Odisha, including Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who will contest from Odisha’s Sambalpur. Pradhan’s Rajya Sabha term ends in April. It also signalled that the BJP failed to reach any agreement with the ruling Biju Janata Dal.
The party has fielded Jagadish Shettar from Karnataka’s Belgaum. After the BJP denied him a ticket for the Karnataka Assembly polls, Shettar contested the elections unsuccessfully as a Congress candidate and later returned to the BJP.
Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is the party’s candidate from Rajampet. Sita Soren, who joined the BJP from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, will contest from Dumka.
The BJP announced 19 candidates from West Bengal, with Gangopadhyay, who recently joined the party, being its Tamluk candidate.
Govil, who played the character of Lord Ram in the television serial Ramayan, will contest from Uttar Pradesh’s (UP’s) Meerut instead of the party’s three-term LS MP Rajendra Agarwal. Ranaut will contest from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi.
Congress’ sitting MP Pratibha Singh has refused to defend her seat. From Bengal’s Darjeeling, the party has renominated its sitting MP Raju Bista.
From UP’s Kanpur, the party has fielded Ramesh Awasthi. Sambit Patra will contest from Odisha’s Puri. He lost by a slim margin in 2019. In Bihar, Giriraj Singh will again contest from Begusarai, R K Singh from Arrah, Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib, and Radha Mohan Singh from Purvi Champaran.
Jindal, a former Congress MP, joined the BJP on Sunday evening and will contest from Haryana’s Kurukshetra against Sushil Gupta of the Aam Aadmi Party.
First Published: Mar 24 2024 | 10:29 PM IST