Modi's BJP unveils 1st candidates list for 2024 election; PM eyes Varanasi hat-trick

AIMING to secure a psychological lead over the opposition, India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (2) announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming general elections due in a few months, even before the election schedule was announced. The ruling party's national general secretary, Vinod Tawde, announced the candidates' names at a press conference in New Delhi.

The list of 195 candidates included none other than the BJP's two most powerful leaders -- prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah. Both will contest the general elections from the seats they represent in the Lok Sabha or Lower House of the Indian parliament -- Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh will contest from his constituency of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh while women and child welfare minister Smriti Irani will contest from Amethi, also in Uttar Pradesh, where she defeated opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 elections.

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The list included 34 ministers and two former state chief ministers. There are 28 women among the candidates whose names have been announced while 47 candidates are in the age group of 50. Fifty-seven members are from the Other Backward Class community. Twenty seven candidates were from Scheduled Castes and 18 from Scheduled Tribes.

Fifty-one candidates are from the key state of Uttar Pradesh; 20 from the eastern state of West Bengal; 15 from Gujarat and Rajasthan each; 12 from Kerala; 11 from Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh each; two from Jammu Kashmir; nine from Telangana; five from Delhi; among others.

Among those the BJP fielded in Delhi, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri replaced Ramesh Bidhuri, who made the headlines last year for allegedly making communal remarks against an opposition MP in the parliament. Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and a lawyer, was also picked to contest the polls. This will be her debut election.

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Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who was earlier a member of the Rajya Sabha or the popularly unelected Upper House of the parliament, will contest from Porbandar in Gujarat. Minister of state for information technology and electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar will contest from Thiruvananthapuram in the southern state of Kerala, where he will challenge former federal minister and three-time MP Shashi Tharoor.

Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest from Guna in the central state of Madhya Pradesh in what will be his first election after joining the BJP in 2020. Former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was overlooked for the top post after the state elections last year, was also set for a national role as he was nominated to contest from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh.

Controversial MP Pragya Singh Thakur did not get a ticket to contest from Bhopal and now will be replaced by Alok Sharma.

The top brass of the BJP, a Hindu nationalist outfit, held a marathon overnight meeting on Thursday (29) and Friday (1) at its headquarters which was presided over by Modi to finalise the first list of candidates.

The BJP had won 303 seats in the 2019 general elections after fielding candidates in 436 constituencies out of 543. Its National Democratic Alliance ended up winning 351 seats, clearly securing a majority and forming the government.