After days of speculation, the BJP on Wednesday released its 10th list of candidates dropping sitting MPs Kirron Kher, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Virendra Singh and fielded former Union Minister Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia, Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The BJP announced the candidates for nine Lok Sabha constituencies — seven in Uttar Pradesh, one in West Bengal and Chandigarh’s lone seat. Of them, eight are new faces.
Ahluwalia’s name was among the nine in the tenth Lok Sabha candidates list announced by the BJP on Wednesday, from his home town in Asansol the country’s oldest coalfields on the Bengal-Jharkhand border, taking on Trinamool Congress’ leader and Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha.
Earlier, the party had fielded Pawan Singh from Asansol, but he subsequently withdrew his candidature. Although the BJP had initially announced the name of Bhojpuri singer-actor Pawan Singh as its candidate from Asansol, the seat remained unrepresented by the party till now following Singh’s refusal to contest from the constituency.
Pawan Singh withdrew from the Lok Sabha race last month after he drew the ire of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders for allegedly “mocking and targeting” Bengali women in his videos and movies. Ahluwalia is the incumbent MP from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency in the state.
It was believed that former MLA and Mayor of Asansol, Jitendra Tiwari, would replace him as the BJP wanted to field a Hindi-speaking candidate from Asansol to contest against Trinamool Congress (TMC) heavyweight Satrughan Sinha.
Ahluwalia served as Minister of State for Urban Affairs and Employment (Department of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation) and Parliamentary Affairs in the P V Narasimha Rao Cabinet from September 15, 1995, to May 16, 1996. He was also deputy Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha from June 2010 to May 2012.
The party dropped two time sitting MP Kirron Kher from Chandigarh and has fielded Sanjay Tandon in her place. Sanjay Tandon, 60, is the son of a BJP leader from Punjab and former Governor of Chattisgarh Balramji Das Tandon.
The announcement came as a surprise to various factions within the Chandigarh BJP which were trying hard for a “local candidate” to be pitched.
Sitting MP from Allahabad Rita Bahuguna Joshi has been replaced by Neeraj Tripathi, who is the son of former Speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Kesri Nath Tripathi.
Neeraj Shekhar the son of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar fielded from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh. Shekhar has been fielded in place of four-term MP Virendra Singh.
The party has fielded Paras Nath Rai from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh against the Samajwadi Party’s Afzal Ansari, the brother of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who recently passed away. In the 2019 elections, Ansari contested from Ghazipur on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket and defeated the BJP’s Manoj Sinha. Sinha is currently the Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
Notably, Paras Nath Rai, who is considered to be an aide of Manoj Sinha, Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, has been fielded to contest against Afzal Ansari of the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Jaiveer Singh Thakur has been fielded from Mainpuri to take on the Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav, who is seeking another term in the Lok Sabha. The BJP has named Praveen Patel from the Phulpur seat in Uttar Pradesh, replacing sitting MP Keshari Devi Patel. BJP MPs Vinod Sonkar and BP Saroj will contest from Kaushambi and Machhlishahr in Uttar Pradesh, respectively. In addition, Keshri Devi Patel from the Phulpur constituency was replaced by Parveen Patel. B P Saroj, the sitting MP from Machhlishahr, has been renominated by the BJP.
