Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Anurag Singh Thakur, along with three former Chief Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Trivendra Singh Rawat, and Basavaraj Bommai, and BJP media chief Anil Baluni, made it to the second list released by the BJP on Wednesday.
The list includes 72 candidates from 11 States for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Of the 72 seats for which the party announced its candidates, 20 each are from Maharashtra and Karnataka, seven from Gujarat, six each from Haryana and Telangana, five from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Delhi, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and one each from Tripura, and Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
With the new list, 267 candidates have been announced by the party. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur has been pitted from Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur seat, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur, Piyush Goyal from Mumbai North, Pralhad Joshi From Dharwad, Minister of State Shobha Karandlaje from Bangalore North. This is the first time that Goyal will be contesting the Lok Sabha election.
While Gadkari retained his Nagpur seat after there was a little uncertainty as his name did not feature in the first list of the candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Gadkari had won the seat consecutively in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. A day before the BJP’s second list was announced, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray asked Gadkari to leave the BJP if he was being “insulted”. Thackeray said the Maha Vikas Aghadi will ensure Gadkari’s victory in the Lok Sabha polls. Gadkari replied saying Uddhav’s “offer” was “immature and ridiculous”.
Manohar Lal Khattar, who resigned as the Chief Minister of Haryana on Tuesday, will contest the elections from Karnal constituency, Trivendra Singh Rawant from Haridwar and Basavaraj Bommai has been fielded from Haveri. Interestingly, hours before he was named as the BJP candidate for the Karnal Lok Sabha seat, former Haryana Chief Minister Khattar on Wednesday announced he was resigning as the MLA from the Karnal Assembly segment.
In Delhi, the BJP has dropped six out of its seven sitting MPs except Manoj Tiwari, who has been given ticket from North East Delhi.
Harsh Malhotra will contest from East Delhi and Yogendra Chandolia from North West Delhi. Malhotra replaced cricketer-turned-politician and East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, who earlier this month urged BJP chief JP Nadda to relieve him of political duties ahead of the polls citing his commitments related to cricket.
Malhotra is the former Mayor of erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation. Chandolia, a former Mayor of North Delhi, was fielded by the BJP, dropping outgoing MP from North West Delhi reserved constituency Hans Raj Hans who is a famous Punjabi Sufi singer.
In Uttarakhand, the BJP has replaced two former Chief Ministers — Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Tirath Singh Rawat — who represent Haridwar and Garhwal (Pauri) seats respectively in the current Lok Sabha.
BJP chief spokesperson Anil Baluni will also be fighting his first Lok Sabha poll as the BJP fielded him from Garhwal, replacing former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat.
Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Ashok Tanwar will contest as BJP candidate from Sirsa. In Haryana, the BJP has fielded Banto Kataria from Ambala-SC parliamentary seat.
The seat has been lying vacant since the death of her husband and former Union Minister Rattan Lal Kataria last year. The party re-nominated its sitting MPs in Gurugram, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Faridabad -- Rao Inderjit Singh, Dharambir Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar respectively.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra will contest from Shimoga.
Pratap Simha, the MP who came under fire for signing the passes to those who intruded on Parliament in a major security breach, has been replaced from the Mysore seat by Yaduveer Krishnadatta Wadiyar of the erstwhile Mysore royal family.
In the Beed constituency in Maharashtra, Pankaja Munde has replaced her sister and incumbent MP Pritam Munde. Sitting MP and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha President Tejasvi Surya will contest from Bangalore South.
BJP chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni has been fielded from Garhwal in Uttarakhand.
BJP leader Vivek Sahu will face former MP CM Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath in Chindwara. In Madhya Pradesh, Dr Bharati Pardhi will contest from Balaghat, Savitri Thakur from Dhar, Shankar and Lalwani from Indore. In Maharashtra, Sudhir Mungantiwar will contest from Chandrapur, Kapil Moreshwar Patil from Bhiwandi, Mihir Kotecha from Mumbai north east, Muridhar Kisan Mahol from Pune.
The BJP’s Central Election Committee on Monday held its second meeting to decide on the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections as its senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, went through the list of probables for several States to make final choices.
Earlier this month, the BJP had announced its first list of more than 195 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, due in April-May. In the first list, the BJP named its candidates for 195 seats spread across 16 States and two Union Territories. However, two of them, Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh and Upendra Rawat, withdrew after their choices sparked controversies.