BJP's LS Candidates List: Varun Dropped From Pilibhit, Mother Maneka Retained From Sultanpur

BJP replaces sitting MP Varun Gandhi with Uttar Pradesh PWD minister Jitin Prasada in Pilibhit constituency.

Pilibhit seat has been represented by Varun Gandhi or his mother Maneka Gandhi for over two decades. ( Image Source :PTI )

New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday released its fifth list of Lok Sabha candidates, featuring 13 candidates from Uttar Pradesh. The saffron party retained former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi from UP's Sutanpur while dropping her son Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit constituency.

He was replaced by Uttar Pradesh PWD minister Jitin Prasada. 

Pilibhit seat has been represented by Varun Gandhi or his mother Maneka Gandhi for over two decades. The seat is going to the polls on April 19.

Notably, Varun Gandhi in recent years has openly criticised the Narendra Modi government and the Uttar Pradesh government over various issues including employment and health. However, his mother Maneka has been retained in the list of candidates and has been fielded from Sultanpur parliamentary constituency.

Gandhi had been attacking his own party government policies in the past few years. 

The BJP's list of candidates from Uttar Pradesh also includes Arun Govil for Meerut, Durvijay Shakya for Budaun, Atul Garg for Ghaziabad, Rajvir Singh Diler for Hathras, Satish Gautam for Aligarh, and Sarvesh Singh for the Moradabad seat, among others.

This is the second list of candidates from UP released by the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections. 

BJP's Fifth Candidates List

BJP revealed its candidates for 111 additional Lok Sabha seats in its fifth list.

Among the prominent names are actor Kangana Ranaut and industrialist Naveen Jindal, who joined the party today. 

Other notable names on the list include Union ministers and senior BJP leaders Nityanand Rai fielded from Ujiarpur, Giriraj Singh from Begusarai, Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib, Sita Soren from Dumka, Jagadish Shettar from Belgaum, K Sudhakaran from Chikkaballapur, Dharmendra Pradhan from Sambalpur, Pratap Sarangi from Balasore, Sambit Patra from Puri, and Aparijita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar.

Naveen Jindal, the industrialist and former MP, who switched from the Congress to the BJP, was hours later nominated to contest from Kurukshetra. 

Kangana Ranaut will contest from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh.