On March 2, the BJP announced 195 candidates from 16 States and two Union Territories for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This was the party’s first list of candidates. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has contested the last two general elections from his parliamentary constituency in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, will run again.
57 of the 195 candidates are from other backward classes (OBCs), 18 candidates are from Scheduled Tribes, 27 candidates are from Scheduled Castes, and 107 candidates are from backward groups. The list includes 47 candidates under the age of 50 and 28 female candidates. Abdul Salam, a Muslim contender from Kerala’s Malappuram, has been put up.
“I bow to the crores of selfless Party Karyakartas and thank the leadership of @BJP4India for their unwavering faith in me. The Prime Minister said on X, “I look forward to serving my sisters and brothers of Kashi for the third time.” “I came to Kashi in 2014 determined to empower the lowest of the poor and realize people’s hopes. We have worked toward a better Kashi and achieved great strides in a number of areas during the past ten years. We shall keep up these efforts with much more vigor. Additionally, I would want to express my sincere gratitude to the people of Kashi for their blessings, which I hold in the highest regard,” he stated.
The seats of controversial sitting MPs, such as Bhopal’s Pragya Singh Thakur, who is accused of being involved in the Malegaon blast case, and South Delhi’s Ramesh Bidhuri, who is accused of using racial epithets against fellow MP Danish Ali on the Lok Sabha floor, have been replaced by former mayor of Bhopal Alok Sharma and Ram Vir Singh Bidhuri, respectively.
34 Ministers fielded
There are 34 Union Ministers who have found a place in the first list, including Ministers Rajnath Singh (contesting again from Lucknow), Amit Shah (from Gandhinagar), and Smriti Irani (from Amethi). However, Minsiter of State Meenakshi Lekhi has been dropped from her New Delhi seat
Interestingly, the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, now a regular MLA in the State, will fight for a Lok Sabha seat from Vidisha, while Biplab Deb, former Chief Minister of Tripura will be contesting from Tripura (West).
Among the Ministers who were Rajya Sabha MPs and are now in the fray for the Lok Sabha are Labour Minister Bhupendra Yadav, who is being fielded from Alwar in Rajasthan, Health Minister Mansukhbhai Mandaviya from Porbandar in Gujarat, and Rajeev Chandrashekhar from Thiruvananthapuram who will face off against Congress MP, Shashi Tharoor.
Major changes in Delhi
The list, finalised after major consultations and a marathon meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) on February 29, is interesting in the dramatic changes to the line up for Delhi, presaged by East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir ruling himself out from the contest hours before the announcement.
On the other hand, the list of the 51 candidates declared for Uttar Pradesh has hardly changed at all. 43 sitting MPs, including Mathuran movie icon Hema Malini, were re-elected to office for the State. For seats that the BJP lost in 2019, new candidates have been revealed. Saket Mishra, the son of Nripendra Mishra, the former prime minister’s personal secretary, will run in Shravasti. The unexpected pick for U.P. came from Jaunpur, where Kripashankar Singh, a Mumbai resident who was previously a Congress MLA and Minister in that party’s Maharashtra cabinet, was put forward in place of Krishna Pratap.
The list for Delhi seems to have seen the maximum changes. Apart from Manoj Tiwari, who has been repeated from North East Delhi, the BJP has fielded four fresh faces from the five seats it announced today, with two more seats left in abeyance. Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, will be running from New Delhi, replacing Meenakshi Lekhi. The Chandni Chowk seat will see traders’ association chief Praveen Khandelwal replacing Dr. Harsh Vardhan. In West Delhi, Kamaljeet Sehrawat replaces Pravesh Singh Sahi; in South Delhi, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri replaces Ramesh Bidhuri. The BJP is yet to announce its candidates from North-West and East Delhi.
Newcomers in the south
In Madhya Pradesh, Ganesh Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste have both been repeated from Satna and Mandla, respectively, amid concerns that MPs who had participated in the Assembly polls but lost would not be given tickets. Only Vijay Baghel and Santosh Pandey, two of the nine current MPs in Chattisgarh, were kept by the BJP; three MPs were elected as MLAs in the just-completed Assembly elections. As Jyotsna Mahant of the Congress presently holds the seat, Saroj Pande of Korba is anticipated to join the BJP.
The list for the southern States of Kerala and Telangana have seen much accommodation for newcomers. Mr Chandrashekhar from Thiruvananthapuram; Anil Antony, the son of former Defence Minister A.K. Antony, from Pathanamtitha; and Suresh Gopi from Thrissur. In Telangana, Lok Sabha MP B.B. Patil, who was newly inducted from the BRS, has been fielded from Zahirabad.
West Bengal candidates
Out of the twenty candidates from the State declared on Saturday, the BJP has fielded nine incumbent Members of Parliament from West Bengal. These candidates include Union Ministers of State Nisith Pramanik from Coochbehar and Subhas Sarkar from Bankura, as well as the party’s State president Sukanta Majumdar from Balurghat. Three incumbent MLAs have also been fielded by the party: Sreerupa Mitra Choudhury from Malda Dakshin, Manoj Tigga from Alipurduar, and Hiranmoy Chatterjee from Ghatal. The current Alipurduar MP, John Barla, has been dismissed.
The significant nominations include Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh from Asansol and Soumendu Adhikari, the brother of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, from the Kanthi Lok Sabha seat. Mr. Suvendu Adhikari’s father Sisir Adhikari is the Trinamool Congress MP from Kanthi. BJP leader Anirban Ganguly has been fielded from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat.
In Rajasthan, 15 candidates were declared, consisting of 8 incumbent Members of Parliament and 7 fresh faces. Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla will run for office again from Kota, Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghwal from Jodhpur and Bikaner, respectively, and BJP State President C.P. Joshi from Chittorgarh. The BJP’s nominee from Churu is Devendra Jhajharia, the first athlete from India to win two gold medals at the Paralympics.
The BJP is likely to hold a second meeting of the CEC on March 6, where States not addressed so far — including big alliance States like Maharashtra and Bihar — will be considered.
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