The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set an ambitious target to break Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi's record of achieving the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats. On several occasions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted the BJP would get 370 seats alone and the tally of the NDA would go past 400.
On March 8 at the National Creators' Awards event in New Delhi, the PM said it is his guarantee that on Shivratri next year, he will again preside over such a function. With the audience chanting "abki bar 400 paar", the prime minister said this is not Modi's guarantee but that of 140 crore Indians.
The BJP powered by the 'Modi-wave' and some historic achievements by the government such as the abrogation of Article 370, a law on triple talaq, the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya etc., undertook a daunting task to cross 400-mark but the fact is that the poll battle is not going to as easy as the ruling alliance is facing a new coalition I.N.D.I.A which boosts opposition in some states.
Meanwhile, the BJP, keeping in mind the big target, gave tickets very carefully. BJP released so far the list of 267 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. The saffron party replaced at least 25 sitting MPs with new faces dropping almost 21 per cent of candidates.
The saffron party gave tickets to several Rajya Sabha members indicating the party will leave no stone unturned to achieve the set goal.
Here are the names of Rajya Sabha MPs fielded by BJP for Lok Sabha elections-
- Piyush Goyal: Union minister Piyush Goyal replaced two-term MP from Mumbai North, Gopal Chinayya Shetty.
- Sarbananda Sonowal: Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal replaced his Cabinet colleague Rameswar Teli in the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat.
- Rajeev Chandrasekhar: Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar was fielded from the Thiruvananthapuram seat in Kerala.
- V Muraleedharan: Union Minister V Muraleedharan will contest from Attingal, Kerala.
- Anil Baluni: The BJP fielded its chief spokesperson Anil Baluni from Garhwal, instead of incumbent Tirath Singh Rawat.
- Bhupendra Yadav: Union Minister Bhupender Yadav was fielded from the Alwar constituency, Rajasthan.
