Lok Sabha Polls 2024: Pragya Thakur, Ramesh Bhiduri and 32 more; Full list of MPs replaced in BJP's 1st candidate list

BJP Candidate List 2024: With just months away from the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced first list of 195 candidates. Amid this, the BJP replaced over 33 sitting MPs with new faces for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

In the list, the BJP announced its candidates for 11 Lok Sabha seats in Assam. Of them, six candidates are sitting MPs while the other five are new faces. In Chhattisgarh, the list has four new faces. 

From Delhi, the BJP named five candidates for Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, four of them replacement of sitting MPs. In Gujarat and Rajasthan too, the party has named its candidates for 15 Lok Sabha dropping five sitting MPs. In addition to this, some controversial candidates including Pragya Thakur, Ramesh Bhiduri, Parvesh Verma, Jayant Sinha also have been replaced in this years polls.

In the fist list high-profile names such as will contest from Varanasi in and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will contest from Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The list, which has names of 34 Union Ministers and Ministers of State, comes days before the dates of Lok Sabha polls 2024 - to be held in April-May - are announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will contest from Lucknow while Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani from Amethi.

Meanwhile, of the 195 constituencies, 51 are from Uttar Pradesh, 20 from West Bengal and five from Delhi. The list, that includes includes names of 28 women, 47 leaders under the age of 50 and 57 members from the OBC community.