Lok Sabha Election 2024: BJP releases 12th list, fields former Punjab IAS officer Parampal Kaur from Bathinda

Lok Sabha Election 2024: BJP releases 12th list, fields former Punjab IAS officer Parampal Kaur from Bathinda

The Bharatiya Janata Party on March 16 released the 12th list of seven candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, focusing on Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal seats.

The saffron party which is seeking third consecutive term at the Centre has fielded former Punjab IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu from Punjab’s Bathinda. Sidhu, who is the daughter-in-law of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) senior leader Sikandar Singh Maluka had joined the BJP on April 12.

The seven-member list also features Abhijit Das from Bengal’s Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency. It is among the keenly watched match-ups with the BJP’s Das squaring off against the incumbent TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee.

The constituency has a diverse electorate, with rural areas constituting 49 per cent and urban areas making up 51 per cent. In both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Banerjee won with huge vote margins, proving his popularity and influence in the seat. In 2019, he beat his nearest rival by a staggering margin of 3.20 lakh votes.

The party has also fielded Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale, the 13th descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra’s Satara. In 2019, Bhosale was elected to the Lok Sabha from Satara on an NCP ticket.

He later resigned and lost the bye-elections to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s friend and former bureaucrat Shriniwas Patil.

Among others, Manjeet Singh Manna Miawind will be contesting from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib, Anita Som Parkash from Hoshiarpur, Thakur Vishwadeep Singh from Uttar Pradesh’s Firzoabad, and Shashank Mani Tripathi from Deoria.