The first list comprised 195 candidates, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi nominated to contest from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Here are a few names from the latest list with the constituencies they are being fielded from:
Nitin Jairam Gadkari from Nagpur
Trivendra Singh Rawat from Haridwar
Harsh Malhotra from East Delhi
Manohar Lal Khattar from Karnal
Anurag Singh Thakur from Hamirpur (Himachal)
Pankaja Munde from Beed
Piyush Goyal from North Mumbai
Anil Baluni from Garhwal
The blend of 72 names has a diverse range from veterans like Nitin Gadkari who has previously been the national president of the BJP, to Harsh Malhotra who served as mayor of East Delhi for a year in 2015-16 but has never stepped into any assembly elections or general elections.
Pankaja Munde, who had been in an on-and-off relationship with the party of the saffron brigade has also bagged a ticket. Her father Gopinath Munde was a devoted leader of the BJP, had served as deputy CM of Maharashtra from 1995-1999 and as minister of rural development in the cabinet of the Modi government in 2014 before he died in an accident.
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Yogender Chandolia is another new name on the list. He has been roped in to contest from North West Delhi, the constituency from where singer Hans Raj Hans contested in 2019 and grabbed 60.48% votes for BJP. While he had been an active leader in the MCD elections, Chandolia had never tasted what an assembly election feels like and now he paratroops to the Lok Sabha elections.
Ex-chief minister of Uttarakhand who had to step down due to resistance from his own party leaders who approached high command and called a meeting to remove Rawat in 2021, has been gifted a ticket from Haridwar. Rawat has been into controversies for his baseless statements such as cows exhaling oxygen and living in proximity to them could cure tuberculosis.
Manohar Lal Khattar, who had to resign from the post of CM due to JJP’s step back in Haryana has got a chance for a new inning from Lok Sabha.
