Nine union ministers on BJP’s second record for Lok Sabha elections | Lok Sabha Elections News

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched the second record of 72 Lok Sabha (LS) candidates on Wednesday, fielding 9 Union ministers and two Rajya Sabha MPs, together with Piyush Goyal, Nitin Gadkari and Anurag Thakur.

Goyal will contest the forthcoming polls from the Mumbai North seat in his LS debut and his colleague within the Union Cabinet, Nitin Gadkari, will recontest from his Nagpur seat. Thakur is the BJPs candidate from Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur, a seat he first gained in a 2008 bypoll and represented in 2009, 2014, and 2019.

The BJP had launched its first record of 195 candidates on March 3, from which two of its candidates dropped out. With this, the BJP has introduced candidates for 265 Lok Sabha seats.

Of the 72 seats introduced on Wednesday, the BJP had gained 64 in 2019. There are 15 girls within the record. With this, the BJP has fielded 53 girls of the 265 candidates introduced (20 per cent). However, it has dropped a number of of its sitting MPs, together with former Union minister Sadananda Gowda and Ramesh Pokhriyal.

The BJP’s second record options three former chief ministers. Former Karnataka chief minister (CM) Basavaraj Bommai will contest from Haveri, Manohar Lal Khattar — who stop as Haryana’s CM on Tuesday — from Karnal, and former Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat from Haridwar. In its first record, the BJP had fielded three former CMs — Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Sarbananda Sonowal, and Biplab Deb.

Several Telangana leaders who stop different events, primarily Bharat Rashtra Samithi, determine within the BJP’s second record. In the Tripura East seat, the BJP fielded Maharani Kriti Singh Debbarma, sister of Pradyot Debbarma, the Tipra Motha chief and a scion of the erstwhile Tripura royal household.

In its second record,  Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni, whose time period expires in April, will contest from Garhwal, the place the get together has dropped the sitting MP — former Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat.

In Karnataka, cardiac surgeon C N Manjunath, who’s former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s son-in-law, will contest from the Bangalore Rural constituency on a BJP ticket towards Congress’ D Okay Suresh, the brother of Deputy CM D Okay Shivakumar.

Of the 72 candidates introduced on Wednesday, the BJP has named two candidates every in Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Himachal, seven in Gujarat, six every in Haryana and Telangana, 20 every in Karnataka and Maharashtra, 5 in Madhya Pradesh, and one every in Tripura and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The BJP is negotiating alliances with the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka, and with the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar Faction) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

Of the 20 candidates it introduced in Maharashtra, eight are new faces, together with Pankaja Munde, who will contest from Beed, changing her sister Pritam, who gained in 2014 and 2019.

The BJP has fielded state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar from Chandrapur, a seat it had misplaced in 2019. The get together changed Jalgaon MP Umesh Patil with native chief Smita Wagh, whereas Anup Dhotre changed his father, sitting Akola MP, Sanjay Dhotre. From Pune, the get together fielded former mayor Murlidhar Mohol. Legislator Mihir Kotecha changed Manoj Kotak, the sitting Mumbai North-East MP.

The BJP introduced two remaining candidates from Delhi, having introduced 5 earlier. Harsh Malhotra, a former cricketer, will contest from East Delhi, changing Gautam Gambhir and Yogendra Chandolia, who replaces Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans, will contest the North West Delhi reserved seat. The get together has changed six of its seven sitting MPs in Delhi.

In Karnataka, the BJP changed 9 of its sitting MPs, together with Sadananda Gowda, former state unit chief Nalin Kumar Kateel and Prathap Simha. Mysuru royal scion Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar will contest Mysuru seat instead of Simha.  From Bellary, the get together has dropped its sitting MP and fielded former minister B Sriramulu. BY Raghavendra have been re-nominated from and Shimoga. The get together has changed GM Siddeshwar together with his spouse Gayatri in Devanagere. Tejasvi Surya, the BJP youth wing president, will once more contest from Bangalore South.

First Published: Mar 14 2024 | 12:41 AM IST