PM Modi, Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Among Top Guns In BJP's 1st Lok Sabha Candidates' List

The BJP's initial list of Lok Sabha election candidates is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will run again from Varanasi.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, PM Modi, and Union Minister Smriti Irani.

Source : PTI

The BJP demonstrated confidence on Saturday by declaring 195 candidates in one go, at least a week to ten days before the Election Commission announces the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections 2024, as it repeated many MPs in key states such as Uttar Pradesh while sending 34 Union Ministers into battle.

BJP's Top Guns For Lok Sabha Polls

1. PM Modi: The BJP's initial list of Lok Sabha election candidates is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will run again from Varanasi. He has already won from the constituency twice and will be trying for a hat trick this time.  PM Modi beat Aam Aadmi Party president and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in 2014, and Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi Party in 2019.

2. Amit Shah: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who led the party to a landslide win in the 2014 general election, will run from Gujarat's Gandhinagar.

3. Rajnath Singh: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, will run from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh

4. Smriti Irani: Union women and child development minister Smriti Irani, will run from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, where she defeated senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in 2019.

5. Jyotiraditya Scindia: Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia will run from Guna in Madhya Pradesh, a seat he previously held from 2002 till losing to BJP candidate Krishna Pal Singh Yadav in 2019.

6. Shivraj Singh Chouhan: Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was not appointed chief minister of Madhya Pradesh despite the BJP's spectacular victory last year, appears to be heading for a national position, as he will run in the Lok Sabha elections from Vidisha.

7. Kiren Rijiju: Union Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju will run from Arunachal West. Since the BJP took office for a second term in 2019, Rijiju has led numerous crucial ministries, including law and youth affairs.

8. Hema Malini: Actor-politician Hema Malini has been fielded again from Mathura. In the 2014 and 2019 elections, the legendary Bollywood actor won by more than 3 lakh votes each.

9. Bhupender Yadav: Bhupender Yadav, an ally for the BJP in the face of adversity, is contesting his first Lok Sabha election after more than two decades as a party office-bearer. Yadav, the BJP's candidate from Alwar in Rajasthan, is seen as a non-controversial man who effectively addresses concerns.

10. Rajeev Chandrasekhar: The BJP has fielded Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar for a high-stakes contest in Thiruvananthapuram, a seat currently held by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.  Chandrasekhar, one of the ministers who were not renominated for the Rajya Sabha, recently told PTI that he is eager to run in his maiden Lok Sabha election and looks forward to "an even more exciting phase" of his political career.

11. Mansukh Mandaviya:  Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, long associated with the BJP, is set to make his electoral debut in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Mandaviya, who has served two terms in the Rajya Sabha, will contest from Porbandar constituency in Gujarat, as announced by the BJP's initial candidate list released on Saturday.

12. V Muraleedharan: Union Minister V Muraleedharan will contest upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Attingal.

13. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat: Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, has been announced as a candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Rajasthan's Jodhpur constituency.  Shekhawat, 56, who was born in Jaisalmer, did not run in the Rajasthan Assembly elections. With the high-stakes Lok Sabha elections looming, the BJP's choice is viewed as a way to keep the veteran in good spirits ahead of the general election.

14. Arjun Ram Meghwal: Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will be contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Bikaner.

15. Sarbananda Sonowal: Sarbananda Sonowal, a Union Minister and Rajya Sabha member for the BJP, will run in the 2018 Lok Sabha elections from Assam's Dibrugarh constituency, replacing incumbent party MP and Union Minister Rameswar Teli.

New Entries In BJP's Candidates List For LS Polls

Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Verma, Meenakshi Lekhi, and Harsh Vardhan were ousted from their respective seats in Delhi, while Sadhvi Pragya Thakur was dropped from her Bhopal constituency.

Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, will run for the New Delhi seat, Kamaljeet Sehrawat for West Delhi, MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri for South Delhi, and Praveen Khadelwal for Chandni Chowk, while Manoj Tiwari has been re-elected from the North East Delhi constituency.

PM Modi's Target For Lok Sabha Polls 2024

Modi has set a target for the BJP to win at least 370 seats on its own in the Lok Sabha elections, as well as more than 400 for the NDA.

In 2019, the party fought 193 of the 195 seats on its own, leaving two for allies: Kaliabor in Assam for the Asom Gana Parishad, or AGP, and Nagaur in Rajasthan for the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party.