LS polls 2024: BJP drops Sunny Deol from Gurdaspur, fields ex-US envoy Taranjit Sandhu in Amritsar. Check full list of candidates here

Lok Sabha polls 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced its eighth list of candidates for the upcoming general elections. This list included candidates from 6 seats in Punjab, 3 in Odisha and 2 in West Bengal.

Of these, three seats are reserved for scheduled castes (SC)-- Jajpur, Jalandhar and Faridkot-- whereas one is reserved for scheduled tribes (ST)-- Jhargram. The ruling party dropped actor and sitting MP Sunny Deol from Punjab's Gurdaspur. Deol was reportedly replaced as the people of Gurdaspur were angry with him.

As per media reports, they also put up posters of Sunny Deol's disappearance and complained that he is never present in times of need nor did he ever come to the constituency located near the border with Pakistan. These reports also stated that despite putting up 'Missing' posters, Deol did not come to meet them.

The public also demanded that a local leader should be made the candidate from Gurdaspur instead of a film star. Due to all this, the saffron party fielded Dinesh Singh 'Babbu' from Gurdaspur constituency.

From the Amritsar constituency, the BJP has fielded former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu. Punjabi singer-politician Hans Raj Hans has been relocated from Delhi's North-West constituency to Punjab's Faridkot parliamentary seat.  

Former Congress leaders Ravneet Singh Bittu and Preneet Kaur, who recently joined the BJP will also contest from Ludhiana and Patiala respectively.

The BJP also fielded Sushil Kumar Rinku from Punjab's Jalandhar constituency. Recently, Rinku rebelled against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and joined the BJP. 

Lok Sabha elections: Check BJP's 8th list of candidates

Punjab

• Gurdaspur: Dinesh Singh 'Babbu'
• Amritsar: Taranjit Singh Sandhu
• Jalandhar (SC): Sushil Kumar Rinku
• Ludhiana: Ravneet Singh Bittu
• Faridkot (SC): Hans Raj Hans
• Patiala: Preneet Kaur

Odisha

• Jajpur (SC): Dr Rabindra Narayan Behera
• Kandhamal: Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi
• Cuttack: Bhatruhari Mahtab

West Bengal

• Jhargram (ST): Dr Pranat Tudu
• Birbhum: Debashish Dhar, IPS

So far, the ruling party has its candidates for 411 Lok Sabha seats. The general polls will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1 and the results will be declared on June 4.