The BJP on Saturday announced its candidates for five of the seven parliamentary seats in Delhi for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party has denied tickets to four sitting MPs.
The party has fielded Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former Union Minister late Sushma Swaraj from New Delhi parliamentary seat, which is currently held by the Union Minister of State for External Affairs.
Praveen Khandelwal will contest from Chandni Chowk seat, replacing the incumbent party parliamentarian and former Union Minister Harsh Vardhan.
The BJP has fielded Kamaljeet Sehrawat as its nominee from West Delhi seat. The seat is held by Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma.
Ramvir Singh Vidhuri, who is the Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, will contest from South Delhi seat as the BJP’s candidate replacing incumbent Ramesh Bidhuri.
Notably, Bidhuri stirred controversy last year after he made objectionable remarks against MP Danish Ali.
Former Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari will contest from North East Delhi parliamentary seat as BJP candidate. He was elected as an MP from this seat in the last General Elections.
Meanwhile, Bansuri Swaraj, who is also the secretary of Delhi unit of BJP in a post on X, expressed her gratitude to Prime Minister Narnedra Modi, party’s national president Jagat Prakash Nadda for fielding her from New Delhi seat.
She said that every party worker will work to make Narendra Modi the ‘Pradhan Sewak’ for the third time.
Earlier in the day, BJP MP from East Delhi Gautam Gambhir said that he has urged the party’s national president Jagat Prakash Nadda to relieve him from his political duties so that he can focus on his cricket commitments.
Gambhir also expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for giving him the opportunity to serve the people.
In a post on X, the BJP parliamentarian wrote: “I have requested Party President Jagat Prakash Nadda to relieve me of my political duties so that I can focus on my upcoming cricket commitments.”
“I sincerely thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for giving me the opportunity to serve the people. Jai Hind,” he said.
Prior to the 2019 general elections, Gambhir had joined the BJP.
Notably, in Delhi, the AAP has formed an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming elections. As per the seat-sharing, the AAP will contest in four parliamentary seats and Congress in three constituencies.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP has already announced the names of candidates for all the four seats. The Congress and BJP are yet to announce the names of candidates.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress and the AAP drew a blank.