BJP's first list has 16 candidates from NE states

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released the first list of 184 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, which includes names for 16 constituencies in the North-East.

While the BJP has decided to field Queen Ojha in the Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency, names of Dilip Saikia and Harensingh Bey were finalised for Mangaldai and Autonomous Council (Diphu) seats, respectively.

State Power Minister Tapan Gogoi will contest the Jorhat seat, Rajdeep Roy Bengali, Silchar, and Kripanath Mallah, Karimganj.

Two incumbent party MPs Pradan Baruah and Rameswar Teli will contest from Lakhimpur and Dibrugarh seats, respectively.

The BJP is yet to announce candidates for Tezpur and Nowgong seats.

The BJP will be contesting 10 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam. It has left Kaliabar, Barpeta and Dhubri Lok Sabha seats for alliance partner Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Kokrajhar seat for the Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF).

The BJP has fielded incumbent party MP and Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju in Arunachal East and party's Arunachal unit chief Tapir Gao in Arunachal West.

The BJP has given party ticket to K.K. Ranjan Singh for Inner Manipur seat and H. Shokhopao Mate (Benjamin) for Manipur Outer seat.

In Tripura, the BJP has fielded Rebati Tripura in Tripura West and Protima Bhaumik in Tripura East.

In the lone Lok Sabha seats in Mizoram and Sikkim, the BJP has finalised names of Nirupam Chakma and Laten Tshering Sherpa, respectively.

The BJP is the ruling party in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura, and part of the ruling coalition in Nagaland and Meghalaya. The Mizo National Front is in power in Mizoram and the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) in Sikkim.

--IANS

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