The Bharatiya Janata Party chose the day of Holi festival to declare its much awaited list of Lok Sabha candidates. The list, carrying 184 names, was full of surprises as it picked up many new faces to contest the 2019 elections while dropping some known names.
The notables announcements included Prime Minister Narendra Modi contesting from Varanasi for the second time, Rajnath Singh from Lucknow and Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur.
However, the biggest surprise came in the form of BJP chief Amit Shah picking up the gauntlet to contest Lok Sabha elections from Gandhi Nagar, the seat represented by L.K. Advani.
The BJP had hinted that its Marg Darshak mandal members may not be given ticket as many other veterans over 75 years of age had opted out themselves. Kalraj Mishra, B.C. Khanduri had earlier opted out from the contest.
Health Minister J.P. Nadda, also a member of central election committee, announced 184 names from 20 states. He said the election panel has picked up candidates for all 17 seats from Bihar, but names will jointly be declares along with JD(U) in Patna.
Among other notable names announced here on Thursday included Smriti Irani. She will contest from Amethi Lok Sabha taking on Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
BJP Youth Wing chief Poonam Mahajan will contest from Mumbai seat, actress and sitting MP Hema Malini from Mathura, minister Kiren Rijiju from Arunachal Pradesh West, minister Jitender Singh from Uddampur, Purandeshwari from Visakhapatnam, Anant Hegde from Uttara Kannada, General V.K. Singh from Ghaziabad, K.J. Alphons from Ernakulam, and Rajyavardhan Rathore from Jaipur Rural.
Minister Krishna Raj has been dropped from his current seat in Uttar Pradesh.
The other states, whose candidate list have been announced includes Assam, Kerala, Uttarakhand, UP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh.
The BJP had already given sufficient clues that winnability was a factor for candidate selection. It also took into account the last assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where Congress performed well. The BJP had decided to change all the sitting MPs from Chhattisgarh to tide over the anti-incumbency.
The BJP has already held three meetings of its central election committee to decide on candidates. As the Lok Sabha elections are in seven phases, remaining names will be declared in subsequent days.
As many outgoing MPs have been denied tickets, the BJP leadership will go in fire fighting mode to quell any rebellion using gentle persuasion or even invoking strict discipline.
