The BJP on Saturday released its second list of candidates for 52 lok Sabha seats spread across six States, with the bulk being from Karnataka and West Bengal.
Two former Chief Ministers, BS Yeddyurappa (Shimoga) and DV Sadananda Gowda (Bangalore North), besides party general secretary and sitting MP from Bangalore South Ananth Kumar figured in the list for Karnataka. In West Bengal, notable among those fielded are sitting Rajya Sabha member Chandan Mitra from Hooghly and singer Babul Supriyo from Asansol.
Of the 52 candidates, 15 are sitting MPs — 12 from Karnataka and three MPs from Assam. The list has candidates from Karnataka (20 seats), West Bengal (17), Odisha (5), Assam (5), Kerala (3) and Tripura (2). The BJP does not have representation in the lok Sabha from West Bengal, Tripura, Odisha and Kerala. The BJP had released a list of 54 candidates in its first list on February 27. With its second list out, the BJP has so far finalised a total of 106 candidates. The next list would be released on March 13.
The Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting, presided over by party president Rajnath Singh and attended by senior leader lK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, leader of Opposition in the lok Sabha, Arun Jaitley, leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha besides all the CEC members, finalised the names. Yeddyurappa, the 71-year-old lingayat strongman, had to resign as Chief Minister in 2011 after a corruption case was lodged against him by the Karnataka lokayukta. He quit the party in 2012 and formed his own outfit Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), which had contested the last Assembly polls against the BJP. Early this year, he merged his party with the BJP. He is expected to help the BJP recover some lost ground in the State.
Karnataka BJP president and sitting MP Prahlad Joshi will contest from Dharwad while another sitting MP Anant Kumar Hegde will be fielded from Uttara Kannada. Of the 20 candidates fielded in Karnataka, which accounts for 28 lok Sabha seats, there are also two ex-Ministers BN Bachhegouda (Chikkballapur) and Revu Naik Belamgi (Gulbarga (SC)) and one Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha State president (Bangalore Rural).
After Karnataka, the largest number of 17 lok Sabha candidates is from West Bengal with diverse backgrounds which include film artist, singer, journalist, retired commander, ex-IPS officer, a teacher and State office bearers. Mitra, Rajya Sabha member, a veteran journalist and Editor of The Pioneer, will be contesting from Hooghly, presently being held by the Trinamool.
RK Handa, ex-IPS officer, will be fielded from Barrackpore, film artist Nimu Bhowmick from Raigunj, retired commander KD Biswas from Bangaon (SC) and Badsah Alam, State Vice-President, from Tamluk. Another candidate from Muslim community and vice-president of Minority Morcha, Mohammad Alam, will fight poll from Ghatal. West Bengal accounts for 42 lS seats.
In Assam, the party has allotted tickets to all three of its sitting MPs - Bijoya Chakraborty (Guwahati), Ramen Deka (Mangaldai) and Rajesh Gohain (Nowgong). From Jorhat, the party has fielded Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, State vice-president, and from lakhimpur, Sarbananda Sonowal, the State president. The party announced three candidates from Kerala which include names of K. Surendran, State General Secretary, (Kasaragod), AN Radhakrishnan, State General Secretary (Ernakulam) and O Rajagopal, ex-Minister, (Thiruvananthapuram).
Two candidates Sudhindra Chandra Dasgupta, State president, from Tripura West and Prikshit Debbarma, State vice-president, from Tripura East (ST) have also found their names in the second list. Five more names of lok Sabha candidates from Odisha have also been announced. BJP also released its list of candidates for legislative elections.