In the first list of candidates for 184 parliamentary constituencies announced by the BJP on Thursday, the ruling party has denied ticket to two sitting MPs from Maharashtra, one Minister and three others in Uttar Pradesh.
The new entrant from Congress Tom Vadakkan did not find place in the list.
In Assam, senior lawmaker and former union minister Bijaya Chakraborty, 80, who has represented the Guwahati seat thrice, has been replaced by former city mayor Queen Oja.
According to BJP CEC secretary J P Nadda, Ahmednagar MP Dilip Gandhi has been denied ticket and has been replaced by Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of senior Congress leader Radhakrihna Vikhe Patil, who joined the saffron party only a few days ago. Mr Sujay is now set to take on Sangram Jagtap of NCP.
In Assam, sitting MPs from Mangaldoi, Ramen Deka and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa – Jorhat – were replaced by Dilip Saikia and Tapan Gogoi, a minister in the Sarbananda Sonowal government.
In Maharashtra’s Latur, the party reposed faith in Sudhakar Shrungare replacing sitting lawmaker Sunil Gaikwad.
From the western state, the first list has names of Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Subhash Bhamre and Hansraj Ahir from Nagpur, Dhule and Chandrapur respectively.
Chandrapur is a known BJP bastion where from where Mr Ahir has won four times.
Mr Gadkari, also known for his close proximity to RSS leadership, would be taking on Congress candidate Nana Patole, also a former BJP man, in Nagpur.
Among the members of political families who figure in the BJP’s first list are Late Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam Mahajan; late Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pritam Munde, and state BJP leader Eknath Khadse’s daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse.
Ms Mahajan has been retained from her Mumbai North Central seat and will fight against Congress leader Priya Dutt. From Beed, the BJP nominee will be Pritam Munde and Raver candidate will be Raksha Khadse.
From Jalna, the saffron party has decided to field state unit BJP chief Raosaheb Danve.
In UP, Union Minister Krishna Raj has been replaced by Arun Sagar as party nominee from Shahjahanpur.
From Sambhal, Satyapal Saini has been replaced by Paremeshwarlal Saini. The BJP also dropped sitting member Ramshankar Katheria from Agra. The party ticket has been given to UP Minister S P Baghel.
The sitting member Babulal has been replaced in Fatehpur and instead the ticket has been given to Rajkumar Chahar.
From Hardoi, the party has replaced Anshul Verma and the ticket has been given to Jaiprakash Rawat.
The sitting member Anju Bala from Misrikh has been given to Ashok Rawat.
In the first list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls announced by the ruling BJP, however, there is no major surprise yet as all top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been fielded from the expected seats.
Mr Modi, who recorded a massive victory from Varanasi, will again contest from the temple city while BJP chief Amit Shah replaces veteran L K Advani to fight from the prestigious Gandhinagar parliamentary seat in Gujarat.
Among key leaders Union Minister Smriti Irani has been against given ticket from Amethi, where she will take on the Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will yet again seek re-election from Lucknow while, Gen V K Singh will be party nominee from Ghaziabad, which he won in 2014.
From West Bengal, no final decision has been made about sitting Darjeeling MP and Union Minister S S Ahluwalia. Reportedly, the name of former Uttarakhand lawmaker Satpal Singh Maharaj, who has a good Gorkha following, was also being considered for the seat.
The BJP leadership accommodated all former Trinamool leaders Arjun Singh from Barrackpore, Saumitra Khan from Bishnupur and Anupam Hazra from Jadavpur.
BJP Women wing chief and actress-turned-politician Locket Chatterjee is the BJP nominee from Hooghly.
The playback singer-turned-politician Mr Supriyo, Union MoS for Heavy Industries, will take on actress-turned-Trinamool leader Moon Moon Sen.
Former CPI-M leader and MLA Khagen Murmu, w
ho joined BJP, is being actively considered as the party candidate from Malda Uttar.
(UNI)
