The BJP on Saturday released its first list of 195 candidates from 16 states and two Union Territories (UT) for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, days after a lengthy meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC). Prime Minister Narendra Modi will run again from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, and Home Minister Amit Shah from Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
The BJP list consists of 34 Union ministers and two previous chief ministers. Instead of Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi, the BJP has fielded Basuri Swaraj, a New Delhi native and daughter of the late Sushma Swaraj. Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb will run from Tripura West, while former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will run from the state's Vidisha seat.
List of candidates
Om Birla, the speaker of the Lok Sabha, will run from Kota, Rajasthan. Two additional well-known candidates from Rajasthan are Union ministers Bhupender Yadav from the Alwar constituency and Gajendra Shekhawat from Jodhpur. Two more Union ministers, V Muraleedharan of Attingal and Rajeev Chandrasekhar of Thiruvananthapuram, are going to run in Kerala.
The BJP has put up 15 candidates in each of the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh; 12 in Kerala; 9 in Telangana; 5 in Delhi; 3 in Uttarakhand; 2 in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh; and 1 in each of the states of Goa, Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar, and Daman & Diu. There are 57 OBC candidates, 47 youth, 18 Scheduled Tribe candidates, 27 Scheduled Caste candidates, and 28 women candidates on the list.
BJP releases first list of 195 candidates for Lok Sabha elections pic.twitter.com/ms1zTtzLfL— ANI (@ANI) March 2, 2024
BJP releases list of contestants
The Central Election Committee (CEC), led by PM Modi, finalized the list of candidates after a long meeting on Thursday. BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde stated the party had been working to widen the BJP and NDA's base of support when he unveiled the first list. "The people of this country want fir ek baar Modi sarkar, not just the BJP," he declared. In the most recent assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana, the party employed the "early-start" tactic. According to the party officials, it was an effective tactic.
The BJP is moving into the elections, which are scheduled to be called soon, with unparalleled confidence after Modi set a target of 370 seats for the party on its own and 400+ for the NDA alliance. In addition to forming new alliances with smaller parties, the party has also forged agreements with regional groups like Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka, reclaimed its previous partner Janata Dal (United) in Bihar, and held discussions with TDP-JanaSena in Telangana.
Hours before the party announced its first list, two of its sitting MPs, Jayant Sinha and Gautam Gambhir, approached BJP president J P Nadda, expressing their desire to be relieved of their electoral obligations. While Sinha stated that he wanted to focus on his efforts to address global climate change in India and around the world, Gambhir expressed a wish to concentrate on impending cricket obligations. According to party insiders, two Members of Parliament are unlikely to stand for election in their respective seats again.
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