The BJP's fifth list of candidates, which came out on Sunday evening, had enough surprises in store, with the party fielding two actors and turncoats in the list.
While the party is yet to declare its candidate for the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat, it has announced party’s Kerala unit president K. Surendran as the BJP candidate to take on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Wayanad constituency.
1) Sandeshkali protestor: The party has nominated a protester from Sandeshkhali for the Basirhat constituency in West Bengal. Rekha Patra, a housewife from the troubled region of Sandeshkhali, has been nominated for the Basirhat seat. The move is seen as a strong statement on the part of the BJP in support of the women of Sandeshkhali and West Bengal. The BJP had been at the forefront of the agitation against now-suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his associates.
BJP holding protest against TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh in Sandeshkhali
Patra is reportedly a victim of Sheikh's torture.
In a post on X, Amit Malviya, the party's West Bengal co-in-charge, said, "The BJP has fielded Rekha Patra from Basirhat in Bengal. She is one of the victims of Sandeshkhali, who suffered at the hands of Sheikh Shahjahan."
"Let Mamata Banerjee wipe the tears of women like her, who are suffering in silence, and are subject to her apathy before she asks for their vote. A strong statement that @BJP4Bengal stands with the women of Sandeshkhali and Bengal," he added.
2) 37 sitting MPs denied tickets: While Varun Gandhi is one of the prominent names to be dropped - he has been replaced by Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada in Pilibhit - sitting MP and Union minister Gen V K Singh (retd) has been replaced by MLA Atul Garg from Ghaziabad. Shortly before the list was released, Singh said in a post on X that he would not contest the Lok Sabha elections. Varun Gandhi too had drawn the party's ire by being vocal against the BJP on several issues, including employment and health.
In Kanpur Lok Sabha seat, Ramesh Awasthi will replace sitting MP Satyadev Pachauri. It is said that Pachauri conveyed to President J P Nadda his unwillingness to contest the elections.
In Odisha alone, the party replaced four sitting MPs out of 18 names announced on Sunday. Odisha has a total of 21 seats. In Bihar, the party has dropped three sitting MPs, including Union Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey.
In UP's Budaun, the party named Durvijay Singh Shakya, after ignoring its current MP Sanghamitra Maurya, daughter of former minister Swami Prasad Maurya. In Bareilly, the party has replaced sitting MP Santosh Gangwar and given the ticket to Chattrapal Singh Gangwar.
In West Bengal, the BJP replaced veteran parliamentarian SS Ahluwalia from Bardhaman-Durgapur with Dilip Ghosh. Former Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde has also been dropped from the list.
Naveen Jindal
3) Turncoats given seats: The party also gave tickets to three leaders who joined the BJP on Sunday. They include Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra, Haryana government minister Ranjit Chautala from Hisar (both in Haryana), and Varaprasad Rao from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.
Besides, Sita Soren, the sister-in-law of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, is the BJP's candidate from Dumka. She had quit the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha a few days ago.
Another prominent name who won the ticket is former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who will contest from Belgaum. He had snapped his long ties with the BJP to join the Congress last year before returning to its fold months later.
Kangana Ranaut
4) Actors given seats: Kangana Ranaut will contest her first election from Mandi in her home state Himachal Pradesh while Ramayana star Arun Govil has been fielded from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat. In Kerala, actor Krishna Kumar has been fielded from Kollam constituency.
With this list, the party has now announced its candidates for 63 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
