BJP first list for Lok Sabha polls: The BJP has released the first list of candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections this evening. Of 543 seats, 195 seats have been finalised. PM Modi will be contesting from Varanasi. The list includes 34 union ministers and two former chief ministers, it also has 28 women candidates.
47 leaders are under the age of 50 and 57 members from the OBC community. Of the 195, 51 are from the all-important state of Uttar Pradesh, 20 from West Bengal and five from Delhi. From Delhi, Praveen Khandelwal, Manoj Tiwari and Sushma Swaraj's daughter Bansuri Swaraj are among the candidates. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who had been elected from the Rajya Sabha earlier, will be contesting from Porbandar in Gujarat. Amit Shah is contesting elections from Gujarat's Gandhinagar. The BJP has maintained a stronghold on this seat since 1989.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be contesting from Lucknow, while Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Scindia will stand from Guna-Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh. Smriti Irani will be contesting from Amethi.
Another prominent name featured in the first list is former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who will be contesting from Dibrugarh. Sonowal previously won this seat in 2004 when he was with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
The BJP has fielded 15 candidates each in Gujarat and Rajasthan; 12 in Kerala; 11 each in Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh; 9 in Telangana; 5 in Delhi; 3 in Uttarakhand; 2 each in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh; and 1 each in Goa, Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar and Daman & Diu.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who wasn't made the Madhya Pradesh chief minister despite the BJP's stunning victory last year, will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha.