The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released a list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Saturday. BJP is entering the field with the goal of winning 370 seats in this year's elections. The first list of BJP includes 34 central ministers. The party has not yet announced its candidates in states like Maharashtra, Bihar, and Odisha.
Here are some prominent names from the BJP's first list:
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest for the third time from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.
Amit Shah
Home Minister Amit Shah will contest the elections from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat. This seat was previously held by one of the founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, L.K. Advani. However, in 2019, Amit Shah contested from this seat for the first time, and he is contesting again from the same seat in 2024.
Rajnath Singh
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will contest from the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been elected as a Member of Parliament from this seat five times. Rajnath Singh has also won elections from here in 2014 and 2019.
Om Birla
Om Birla, the current Speaker of the Lok Sabha, is recognized for his commitment to parliamentary responsibilities, facilitating effective proceedings in India's lower house. BJP has fielded Birla from Rajasthan's Kota. He has won last two Lok Sabha elections from the contituencey.
Jyotiraditya Scindia
Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Jyotiraditya Scindia will be competing from Guna in Madhya Pradesh. He has represented this constituency since 2002 until his defeat to the BJP's Krishna Pal Singh Yadav in 2019.
Shivraj Singh Chauhan
Despite the BJP's impressive victory last year in Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan was not appointed as the chief minister. It appears he is now poised for a national role, as he will be contesting in the Lok Sabha elections from Vidisha.
Jitendra Singh
Union Minister Jitendra Singh will contest from the Udhampur constituency in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2014, he defeated Ghulam Nabi Azad, the former Chief Minister of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been nominated by the BJP for a crucial contest in Thiruvananthapuram, a seat currently held by Congress' Shashi Tharoor.
