The Bharatiya Janata Party released a list of candidates on Tuesday for the byelection in Gujarat, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and West Bengal and the second list for Sikkim Assembly elections. In Himachal Pradesh, the party rewarded all the six candidates with a ticket who quit Congress and joined the saffron camp.
Sudhir Sharma has been fielded from Dharamshala, Ravi Thakur from Lahaul & Spiti (ST), Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, Chaitanya Sharma from Gagret, and Devinder Kumar (Bhutto) from Kutlehar.
Reacting to the development, Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, "This proves BJP indulged in horsetrading. The people of the state will teach them a lesson."
Candidates Announced For Gujarat, Karnataka, And Bengal Bypolls
The saffron party announced five candidates for Gujarat bypoll which include Chatursinh Javanji Chavda (Vijapur), Arjunbhai Devabhai Modhvadiya (Porbandar), Arvindbhai Jinabha Ladani (Manavadar), Chiragkumar Arvindbhai Patel (Khambhat), and Dharmendrasinh Ranubha Vaghela (Vaghodia).
In Karnataka, the party has fielded Narasimhanayak (Rajugouda) from Dharamshala Shorapur (ST).
Bhaskar Sarkar has been given a ticket by the party from Bhagawangola in West Bengal and Sajal Ghosh has been nominated from Baranagar.
The byelections for 26 Assembly constituencies across nine states will be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha elections 2024. The polling for the byelections in Bihar, Haryana, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal will be held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.
The votes will be counted on June 4.
6 assembly constituencies will undergo byelections in Himachal Pradesh, 5 in Gujarat, 4 in Uttar Pradesh, 2 in West Bengal, and one each in Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tripura, West Bengal, Telangana, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
For the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, nominations are underway for the first phase of polling which will take place on April 19. The last date to file the nomination will be March 28.