BJP has released the second list of 72 candidates around 10 states and a union territory for the Lok Sabha polls where Mysuru Maharaja has replaced the sitting MP Pratap Simha.
On Wednesday, The Bharatiya Janta Party released its second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The list featured the Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari who is contesting from Nagpur, Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, Piyush Goyal who is the leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from North Bombay, and Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad.
The list consists of 72 candidates from around ten states and a union territory with every seat declared for Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Tripura, as well as Uttarakhand. It was a mixed bag with some expected faces included in the list but also saw significant drops. Around 29 MPs have been replaced while in regards to the BJP candidate Kalaben Delkar in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, a heavily interesting situation has been created as Ms. Kalaben is the sitting MP from the seat won in a by-poll in 2021 fielded by the Shiv Sena. She contested after the death of her husband Mohan Delkar in a hotel in Mumbai. The case was being probed by the Mumbai Police because of a note left by him mentioning a case registered against the BJP leader Praful Patel.
The BJP has declared candidates for 20 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. The party has also replaced nine sitting candidates including the Mysuru MP Pratap Simha replaced with Yaduveera Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wodeyar. The former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda has also been replaced with the now-shifted Udupi Chikmagalur Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje. However, another one of the former Chief Ministers B.S. Bommai has been given the candidature from the Haveri seat. The president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Tejaswi Surya is being repeated from Bangalore South. The former State BJP chief Nalin Kateel has though dropped in the favour of Brijesh Chowta who is a former defence personnel.
The announcement of this list of candidature poses the risk of rebellion as the BJP has denied a ticket to Kanthest. He is the son of the veteran leader K.S. Eshwarappa who is also the OBC face of the party and wanted to make a poll debut from Haveri. BJP has fielded Mr. Bommai from here while Mr. Eshwarappa’s supporters are calling a meeting to decide the further course of action on Friday.
In Gujarat, the BJP has dropped the sitting MPs from Surat, Valsad, Chotta Udepur, Bhavnagar, and Sabarkantha. A new face Mukesh Dalal will now be seen from Surat while from Ahmedabad East and Vadodara Hasmukh Patel and Ranjanaben Bhatt will be repeated. From Uttarakhand, former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has replaced the former Chief Minister and Union Minister in Haridwar. In Garhwal, BJP’s media cell chief Anil Baluni has also replaced a former chief minister of the state.
