Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced 13 candidates for Uttar Pradesh as it released its fifth list of 111 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024.
In the latest list, the saffron party has named Raghav Lakhanpal from Saharanpur, Atul Garg from Ghaziabad, dropping sitting MP and Union Minister VK Singh. Shortly before the list was announced, Singh said in a post on X that he will not contest the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Sitting MP Varun Gandhi has been denied a ticket from UP's Pilibhit and UP minister Jitin Prasad fielded in his place. Longtime Bareilly MP and former Union Minister Santosh Gangwar has also been dropped and Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar was named the candidate.
Varun Gandhi has recently been vocal against the BJP on several issues, including employment and health. However, his mother Maneka Gandhi has been retained in the list of the candidates, and has been fielded from Sultanpur parliamentary constituency.
The BJP has fielded Atul Garg from Ghaziabad, as sitting MP and Union Minister, Gen VK Singh (retd) expressed his unwillingness to contest the polls.
Ramayan TV serial-fame actor Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Ram, has been fielded from Meerut.
Similarly, the party has fielded Ramesh Awasthi from Kanpur Lok Sabha seat, after sitting MP Satyadev Pachauri on Sunday expressed his unwillingness to contest the elections and conveyed the same to the party's national president JP Nadda.
BJP yet to declare candidate on Raebareli seat
This is the second list of candidates from UP released by the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections. The party is yet to declare its candidate for the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat.
In Budaun, the party has announced the name of Durvijay Singh Shakya, overlooking its current MP Sanghamitra Maurya.
In Bareilly, the party has replaced sitting MP Santosh Gangwar and given the ticket to Chattrapal Singh Gangwar.
The party has announced Raghav Lakhanpal as its nominee from Saharanpur, Sarvesh Singh from Moradabad and Satish Gautam from Aligarh seats.
On the reserved seats of Barabanki and Bahraich, the BJP has named Rajrani Rawat and Arvind Gond respectively.
The BJP in its first list had named its sitting MP Upendra Rawat from Barabanki.
Rawat, however, refused to contest the election after an obscene video allegedly involving him surfaced on social media.
In its fifth list, the party has announced candidates from Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, UP, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, among other states.
With inputs from PTI
