BJP fields Puri from Amritsar, repeats four Delhi MPs

A day after actor Sunny Deal met BJP President Amit Shah, giving indication that he may be fielded from Amritsar, the party on Sunday announced Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri as its candidate from the seat.

Puri has replaced Union Minister Arun Jaitley, who unsuccessfully contested from Amritsar in 2014. Jaitley has decided not to contest the Lok Sabha elections this year citing health reasons.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also announced Sanjay Lalwani as its candidate from the Indore parliamentary constituency, replacing Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who had said that she would not contest the polls this time. Lalwani is the Chairman of the Indore Development Authority.

This was BJP's 23rd list for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Besides Puri and Lalwani, the party also repeated it's four sitting MPs from Delhi, including Union Minister Harsh Vardhan from Chandni Chowk.

The party has also re-nominated Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari from Northeast Delhi, Pravesh Singh Verma from West Delhi and Ramesh Bidhuri from South Delhi.

The BJP, which won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi in 2014, is yet to release the names of three more candidates from the national capital.

According to sources, the BJP is set to field cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir from the New Delhi parliamentary seat by replacing its sitting MP Meenakshi Lekhi.

The saffron party also announced the candidature of Harinarayan Rajbhar from the Ghosi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.

--IANS

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