As we inch closer to Lok Sabha Elections 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released it first list of candidates.
The party has fielded some of the obvious senior leaders from their previous constituencies like Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah from Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, etc.
Meanwhile, some new additions have been former chief ministers of:
Assam (Sarbananda Sonowal from Dibrugarh)
Madhya Pradesh (Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha)
Tripura (Biplab Kumar Deb from Tripura West)
However, there have been some surprises with a total of 42 MPs replaced.
Here are some of the major replacements:
New Delhi: Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi replaced by Bansuri Swaraj (daughter of Sushma Swaraj)
Chandni Chowk: Dr Harsh Vardhan replaced by Praveen Khandelwal
South Delhi: Ramesh Bidhuri replaced by Ramvir Singh Bidhuri
In Madhya Pradesh, 11 out of the BJP's 28 MPs from the state in 2019, have been replaced, including Sadhvi Pragya from Bhopal by Alok Sharma.
Also, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari did not make it to the first list.
To read the full analysis on BJP's first list, click here.
In our weekly special 'Elections 2024 with Faye and Aditya' leading up to the crucial Lok Sabha polls, Faye D'Souza and Aditya Menon sit down to delve deeper into the BJP's first list of candidates and if the changes are going to help them or the Opposition.
Tune in!
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