Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, veteran actor Arun Govil, former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, industrialist Naveen Jindal, and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra figure in the 5th list of 111 candidates announced by the BJP on Sunday evening for the Lok Sabha elections.
The list was released after a meeting of the BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) on Saturday, which was presided by party president JP Nadda and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders.
The BJP today named its candidates for the Lok Sabha seats from 17 states –Uttar Pradesh (13), Bihar (17), Odisha (18), Rajasthan (7), Haryana (4), Maharashtra (3), West Bengal (39), Kerala (4), Karnataka (4), Goa (1), Gujarat (6), Himachal Pradesh (2), Jharkhand (3), Mizoram (1), Sikkim (1), Telangana (2), and Andhra Pradesh (6).
Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has been fielded from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi, a stronghold of the Congress.
The BJP has fielded veteran actor Arun Govil, who played the character of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar’s ‘Ramayan’ from Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut.
Maneka Gandhi will contest from UP’s Sultanpur.
Former Congress MP Naveen Jindal, who joined the BJP on Sunday, will contest from Haryana’s Kurukshetra seat.
Industrialist Naveen Jindal represented the Kurukshetra constituency in the Lok Sabha for two terms (2004-2014).
Sambit Patra will contest from Puri constituency of Odisha.
Former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who quit the bench recently and joined the BJP, has been fielded from West Bengal’s Tamluk seat.
Other prominent candidates include Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan from Odisha’s Sambalpur, former IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar, Andhra Pradesh unit BJP chief D Purandeswari from Rajahmundry, and former Andhra Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who quit the Congress, from Rajampet.
In Bihar, the party has fielded Union Ministers R.K Singh from Arrah, Nityanand Rai from Ujiarpur, and Giriraj Singh from Begusarai. Former Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib, Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Saran, Radha Mohan Singh from Purvi Champaran, and Ram Kripal Yadav from Pataliputra also figure in the list.
JMM’s Sita Soren, who recently joined the party, has been fielded from Dumka (ST) in Jharkhand.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who recently returned to the party from the Congress, has been fielded from Belgaum and former state minister K. Sudhakar from Chikballapur.
In Kerala, state chief K Surendran has been fielded from Wayanad, where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting.
Sitting MP Varun Gandhi has been denied a ticket from UP’s Pilibhit and UP Minister Jitin Prasad fielded in his place.
Longtime Bareilly MP and former Union Minister Santosh Gangwar has also been dropped and Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar was named the candidate.
The BJP has fielded Atul Garg from Ghaziabad, as sitting MP and Union Minister Gen VK Singh (Retd) expressed his unwillingness to contest the polls.