BJP Releases 1st List Of 195 Candidates For LS Polls; PM Modi To Contest From Varanasi

The BJP has released its first candidates’ list for the Lok Sabha polls before the MCC announcement. (Representational Image: PTI)

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest from the Varanasi seat.

As many as 34 Union Ministers and two former Chief Ministers are part of the first list. Releasing the list, BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde said that 28 women candidates, 47 youths, 27 Scheduled Caste, 18 Scheduled Tribe and 57 OBC candidates are included in the list.

HOW MANY SEATS IN EACH STATE

• Uttar Pradesh: 51 seats
• West Bengal: 20
• Madhya Pradesh: 24
• Gujarat: 15
• Rajasthan: 15
• Kerala: 12
• Telangana: 9
• Assam: 11
• Jharkhand: 11
• Chhattisgarh: 11
• Delhi: 5
• Jammu and Kashmir: 2
• Uttarakhand: 3
• Arunachal Pradesh: 2
• Goa: 1
• Tripura: 1
• Andaman & Nicobar: 1
• Daman & Diu: 1

Notably, in 2019, the party’s first list of 180-odd candidates was released on March 21, which was about 11 days after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) announcement.

However, this time the BJP’s first list is coming out at least a week prior to the MCC announcement. This is a strong indication of the party’s grit towards achieving its goal of winning more than 370 seats in the upcoming LS polls.

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting in the national capital to deliberate on the first list of candidates for the general elections.

Lasting for more than four hours, the meeting — which started at 10:30 pm — was held at BJP’s headquarters. Top brass of the saffron party including National President JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Organisational General Secretary BL Santosh, Chief Ministers, State Presidents, In-charges, Election In-charges of several states were in attendance at the meeting.

As a resultant of the meeting, the leaders zeroed in on more than 155 seats across 17 states. Reportedly, it was said that the BJP might announce its candidates on Uttar Pradesh’s “weak seats” before the election dates are released by the Election Commission.

The Lok Sabha elections are expected to be scheduled in April-May.

Sources suggested that the announcement for four to five candidates from Telangana might also come soon, adding that three sitting MPs G Kishan Reddy, Bandi Sanjay Kumar and Arvind Dharmapuri might get tickets again.

The seat tickets were also deliberated on with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and a discussion for Assam as well was in the cards.

The saffron party will contest on 11 seats from Assam, where Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will contest from Dibrugarh and State Minister Rameshwar Teli could be given Rajya Sabha ticket.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the slogan “Crossing 400” for NDA (National Democratic Alliance) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, adding that the BJP along must cross the ‘370 seats’ mark.