LS elections: Kangana to Varun Gandhi, key highlights of BJP's 5th list

Popular Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut and famous TV personality Arun Govil were the surprise names among the nominations, while the BJP did not give Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi the ticket

Lok Sabha elections 2024: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has unveiled its fifth list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, comprising 111 nominees. This announcement follows a meeting of the party's central election committee held to finalise the selections. The list includes candidates from a diverse array of states such as Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

New Faces and Notable Nominations

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut and TV personality Arun Govil—famous for his portrayal of Lord Ram in Ramayan—were the surprise names among the nominations. Former Congress MP Naveen Jindal, who recently joined the BJP, was given the ticket from Haryana's Kurukshetra. Jindal, an industrialist, represented Kurukshetra in the Lok Sabha for two terms. He faced defeat in the 2014 elections against BJP's Raj Kumar Saini and was not fielded by Congress in 2019.

Varun Gandhi omitted, Jitin Prasada steps in

BJP replaced Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi with ex-Congress MP Jitin Prasada. However, Varun Gandhi's mother, Maneka Gandhi, retained her nomination from the Sultanpur Lok Sabha seat. The party also dropped ex-Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde from Uttara Kannada constituency. Union Ministers Ashwini Kumar Choubey was also omitted from BJP's fifth list. Dharmendra Pradhan was nominated for the Sambalpur constituency.

Significant BJP nominations and changes

Meanwhile, the incumbent Minister of State for Civil Aviation, General V.K. Singh, had withdrawn his name from the Lok Sabha candidacy before the BJP's announcement. In Bihar, the BJP announced candidates for 17 Lok Sabha seats, dropping three sitting MPs including Union Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey. Notable replacements included Mithilesh Tiwari for Buxar, Shivesh Ram for Sasaram, and Raj Bhushan Nishad for Muzaffarpur. Vivek Thakur, a Rajya Sabha member, was fielded from Nawada, where the BJP would be contesting this time, instead of its ally Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

Sita Soren to contest from Dumka

In its most recent candidate lineup, the BJP revealed that former Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA Sita Soren will contest the elections from the Dumka constituency in Jharkhand.

Sita Soren, currently serving as MLA from the Jama Assembly seat in Dumka, submitted her resignation from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party on March 19, citing grievances of being marginalised alongside her family.

Janata Dal (United) announces list of 16 candidates

The Janata Dal (United) has unveiled a list of 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on March 24, focusing on caste distribution, indicative of the influence exerted by last year's caste census on the political landscape of the State. 

The announcement saw the exclusion of two incumbent MPs, Kavita Singh from Siwan and Sunil Kumar Pintu from Sitamarhi. Meanwhile, two party-switchers, Lovely Anand (formerly RDJ) and Vijay Lakshmi Kushwaha (former RLM MLA), have secured tickets, demonstrating a proclivity towards leaders from backward classes.

Among the 16 candidates, six hail from Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and five from Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), constituting a significant 63 per cent of Bihar's populace. Conversely, three candidates represent upper castes, accounting for a mere 15 per cent of the population, with one each from the mahadalit and Muslim communities. Additionally, two female candidates are included in the roster.

Lovely Anand, formerly of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and Vijay Lakshmi Kushwaha, spouse of Ramesh Singh Kushwaha, the former RLM MLA from Ziradei who has rejoined the JD(U) - have been nominated for the Sheohar and Siwan Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

Other significant election announcements over the weekend

The BJP also unveiled its candidate roster for 18 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, while opting not to nominate four incumbent MPs.

Four of the candidates announced are women: Aparajita Sarangi for Bhubaneswar, Sangeeta Kumari Deo for Bolangir, Malvika Keshari Deo for Kalahandi, and Anita Subhadarshini for Aska.

The sitting MPs who have not been granted BJP tickets this time around are Suresh Pujari for Bargarh, Union Minister Bisheswar Tudu for Mayurbhanj, Nitish Gang Deb for Sambalpur, and Basant Panda for Kalahandi.

The party is yet to disclose its selections for the Cuttack, Jajpur, and Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituencies.