NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI/GANDHINGAR, MAR 2
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced candidates for 195 constituencies across the country as part of the first list, for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The list has names of candidates for constituencies in 16 states and two Union Territories. There are a total of 28 women candidates, 27 from Scheduled Caste (SC), 18 from Scheduled Tribes (ST), and 57 from Other Backward Classes (OBC). The list also has 34 Union ministers and ministers of state and two former chief ministers.
VIDEO | “In the BJP Parliamentary Meeting held on 29 February, 195 candidates from 16 states and two UTs were decided. In the meeting, it has been decided that PM Modi will contest for the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi,” says BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde at a press… pic.twitter.com/0DCBsyGYgK
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 2, 2024
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be contesting from the Varanasi constituency.
The list includes 195 candidates for 51 seats from Uttar Pradesh, 24 from Madhya Pradesh, 20 from West Bengal, 15 each from Gujarat and Rajasthan, 12 from Kerala, 11 seats each from Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, 9 seats from Telangana, 5 from Delhi, 2 from Jammu and Kashmir, 3 from Uttarakhand, 2 from Arunachal Pradesh and 1 each from Goa, Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar and Daman & Diu.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be contesting from the Varanasi
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah will seek the mandate again from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar
- Announces names for 15 Gujarat; drops 5 MPs and field 2 Union ministers
- There are a total of 28 women candidates, 27 from Scheduled Caste (SC), 18 from Scheduled Tribes (ST), and 57 from Other Backward Classes (OBC)
- In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all 26 seats from Gujarat
Out of the 26 seats in Gujarat, the party has announced candidates for 15 seats, making some significant changes. Among the notable changes, five sitting MPs have been dropped from the list while Union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala have been given tickets.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will fight from Gandhinagar, a seat he won with a huge margin in the 2019 polls, while Gujarat BJP chief CR Paatil has been retained from Navsari.
Sitting MPs who have been denied tickets are former Union minister of state Mohan Kundariya from Rajkot, Ramesh Dhaduk from Porbandar, Kirit Solanki from Ahmedabad East, Parbat Patel from Banaskantha and Ratansinh Rathod from Panchmahal.
Union agriculture minister Parshottam Rupala, who hails from neighbouring Amreli district, will fight from Rajkot in place of Kundariya.
Mandaviya, who is from Bhavnagar district, has been fielded from Porbandar in place of Dhaduk.
The BJP has fielded six-time MP and senior tribal leader Mansukh Vasava from Bharuch, which is one of the two seats given by the opposition Congress to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party as part of their INDIA bloc agreement.
AAP has already announced the name of its Dediapada MLA Chaitar Vasava from the Bharuch seat.
Union minister of state for communications Devusinh Chauhan has been fielded from Kheda, which he won in 2014 and 2019.
The two women in the first list of 15 candidates from the state are Jamnagar MP Poonam Madam and Rekhaben Chaudhary, who has been given a ticket for the first time from Banaskantha in place of Parbat Patel.
The BJP has given ticket to Dinesh Makwana in Ahmedabad West (Scheduled Caste) seat in place of Kirit Solanki, while in Panchmahal, sitting MP Ratansinh Rathod has been replaced by Rajpalsinh Jadav.
The ruling party has retained Vinod Chavda from Kutch (SC) seat, Bharatsinh Dabhi from Patan, Mitesh Patel from Anand and Jaswantsinh Bhabhor from Dahod.
In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all 26 seats from the state.
