The BJP has released its fifth list of candidates for the Lok Sabha, which includes actors, industrialists, and ministers among others, but with a few notable omissions.
On Sunday with 111 candidates, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded four Union ministers, including Dharmendra Pradhan, actors Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil, and industrialist and former Congress leader Navin Jindal, for the Lok Sabha in the upcoming general elections.
The list featured candidates from 17 states, with 18 of them from Odisha, where the party addressed weeks of suspense on Friday by declaring that it will not form an alliance with the state’s ruling Biju Janata Dal.
Govil, who portrayed Lord Ram in the television series Ramayana, will compete from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, while Ranaut will run from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. Jindal, who became a member of the BJP on Sunday evening, will run from Kurukshetra, Haryana.
The BJP’s outspoken supporter, actor Kangana, expressed her gratitude to the party for selecting her as their Mandi Lok Sabha candidate. The constituency is currently represented by Pratibha Singh, a leader in the Congress.
“My beloved Bharat and Bhartiya Janta’s own party, Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has always had my unconditional support, today the national leadership of BJP has announced me as their Lok Sabha candidate from my birth place Himachal Pradesh, Mandi (constituency) I abide by the high command’s decision on contesting Lok Sabha polls,” she wrote on X.
In January, both actors were present at the major Ram temple ceremony in Ayodhya.
Following its announcement on Sunday, the party has now named candidates for 402 seats. In upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a goal for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win at least 370 seats on its own and more than 400 seats for the National Democratic Alliance.
Recently, Arun Govil and Anuradha Paudwal joined the BJP. In the Meerut election, he is running in place of BJP MP Rajendra Agrawal. Since 2009, Mr. Agarwal has been chosen three times to represent the Meerut-Hapur constituency as a member of parliament.
Maneka Gandhi, Varun Gandhi’s mother, has been kept in Sultanpur, but Varun Gandhi has been dropped from Pilibhit.
Union ministers Sambit Patra of Puri and Dharmendra Pradhan of Sambalpur have been nominated by the BJP. The BJP is fielding actor Arun Govil to represent Meerut in the Lok Sabha. Govil is well known for his role as Ram in the hit television series Ramayan.
Varun Gandhi has been replaced in Pilibhit by Jitin Prasada. Anant Kumar Hegde, a former Union minister, has also been dropped by the party from the Uttara Kannada seat.
Union ministers R.K. Singh from Arrah, Nityanand Rai from Ujiarpur, and Giriraj Singh from Begusarai have been fielded by the party in Bihar. Former Union ministers from Patna Sahib, Saran, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Purvi Champaran, Radha Mohan Singh, and Pataliputra, Ram Kripal Yadav, are also included in the list.
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