On Wednesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unveiled its 10th list comprising 9 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Notably, the party has nominated its Rajya Sabha MP Neeraj Shekhar to contest from Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia constituency. Son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, Neeraj Shekhar previously served as a Lok Sabha MP from 2007 to 2014 under the Samajwadi Party banner in Ballia, a seat previously held by his father.
However, in 2014, he lost the elections to his BJP opponent and subsequently entered the Rajya Sabha. Following his absence from the SP’s candidate list in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Shekhar parted ways with the SP and joined the BJP, earning a seat in the Upper House of Parliament.
Additionally, the BJP announced Paras Nath Rai as its candidate from Ghazipur, who will contest against Afzal Ansari, a candidate from the Samajwadi Party and Congress alliance. This latest list features eight new names, with the party also replacing its candidate from West Bengal’s Asansol constituency.
Earlier, the party had nominated Bhojpuri star Pawan Singh from Asansol, who has now been replaced by sitting BJP MP SS Ahluwalia. Sanjay Tandon has been selected as the BJP candidate from Chandigarh, while B.P. Saroj has been granted a ticket from Machhlishahr.
Jaiveer Singh Thakur is set to contest from Mainpuri, a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party, whereas the SP has re-nominated Dimple Yadav from the same constituency. Vinod Sonkar will vie for the Kaushambi seat, and Praveen Patel will compete for the Phulpur constituency. Neeraj Tripathi has been nominated as the BJP’s candidate from Prayagraj.
The general elections for 543 Lok Sabha seats are scheduled to be conducted in seven phases beginning on April 19. Nearly 97 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes. Vote counting will take place on June 4. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 303 seats, while the Indian National Congress (INC) garnered 52 seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 282 seats, with the INC managing to secure only 44 seats.
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