Lok Sabha Elections 2024 : BJP's releases first list of 195 candidates, PM Modi to contest from Varanasi

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) released the first list of 195 candidates for Lok Sabha elections here in the national capital on March 2.  

The first list of 195 candidates features high-profile names such as Prime Minister who will again contest from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Union Home Minister who will contest from Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will contest from Lucknow while Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani from Amethi. 

Of the 195, at least 51 are from Uttar Pradesh, 20 from West Bengal and five from Delhi. The list, which has names of 34 Union Ministers and Ministers of State, comes days before the dates of Lok Sabha polls - to be held in April-May - are announced by the (ECI).  The list was read out by BJP National Vice President Jay Panda and BJP National General Secretary, Vinod Tawde.

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The list includes 28 women, 47 leaders under the age of 50 and 57 members from the OBC community. 

Among other Union Ministers, Jyotiraditya Scindia has been fielded from Guna, Arjun Meghwal will contest from Bikaner, Bhuepndra Yadav from Alwar. Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla will contest from Kota while former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Chouhan from Vidisha

The BJP has kept 370+ seats target for the party in the upcoming polls and 400+ for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

In 2019 too, the BJP had revealed names of 184 candidates on March 21, weeks before dates were announced.

In 2019, the Lok Sabha polls were held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. The result, declared on May 23, saw a landslide victory for the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi with 303 seats in the 543-member House.

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