The BJP on Tuesday released the 12th list of seven more candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, fielding Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendant of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji, from Satara in Maharashtra and Abhijit Das Bobby as  the candidate for the Diamond Harbour constituency in West Bengal. The BJP dropped Union Minister Som Parkash from Hoshiarpur in Punjab but decided to field his wife Anita Som Parkash to keep the influential local leader’s support intact. With the new list, the party has named its candidates for around 430 seats for the polls to 543 seats starting from April 19. The BJP’s 12th list has focused on Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal seats. The party also released its second list of 21 candidates for the Odisha assembly polls, fielding former minister Dilip Ray from Rourkela.

The BJP has fielded Abhijit Das Bobby from Diamond Harbour Parliamentary constituency in West Bengal against Trinamool Congress candidate  Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.Diamond Harbour has been Abhishek Banerjee’s stronghold since 2014. Previously known as Hajipur, its name was changed to Diamond Harbour by the British. According to the 2011 census, the population of this parliamentary constituency, which is part of the South 24 Parganas district, is 2,221,470. Among these, 49.07% live in villages and 50.93% are urban dwellers. The proportion of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes among them is 20.63% and 0.18% respectively. There are seven Assembly seats under Diamond Harbour, including Falta, Satgachhia, Bishnupur, Maheshtala, Budge Budge, Metiabruz and Diamond Harbour. It is among the keenly watched match-ups with the BJP’s Das squaring off against the incumbent TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee. In both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Banerjee won with huge vote margins, proving his popularity and influence in the seat. In 2019, he beat his nearest rival by a staggering margin of 3.20 lakh votes.

Bhosale is the 17th holder of the title of Chhatrapati which was founded by the Maratha emperor Chhatrapati Shivaji on his coronation in 1674. In 2019, Bhosale was elected to the Lok Sabha from Satara on an NCP ticket.

In Uttar Pradesh, the party has fielded Vishwadeep Singh from Firozabad and Shashank Mani Tripathi from Deoria, dropping its sitting MPs from the two seats.

The party fielded Anita Som Parkash from the Hoshiarpur reserve parliamentary constituency, according to the list of candidates. Anita thanked the party leadership for entrusting her with the responsibility. The BJP won the seat in the 2014 and 2019 polls. The party’s Vijay Sampla had won it in 2014 while Som Parkash had defeated Congress nominee Raj Kumar Chabbewal in 2019. Hoshiarpur is one of the three seats which BJP had been fighting when it was in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal. But the saffron party is fighting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on its own. Anita Som Parkash will face AAP nominee Raj Kumar Chabbewal in the coming polls. The Congress and the SAD are yet to name their candidates from Hoshiarpur.

As expected, the BJP fielded former IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu from Bathinda parliamentary seat, currently held by SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Sidhu is the daughter-in-law of senior Akali leader Sinkander Singh Maluka. She recently joined the BJP along with her husband Gurpreet Singh Maluka in Delhi.

Before joining the saffron party, Sidhu, a 2011-batch IAS officer, had put in her papers. She is pitted against Congress candidate Jeet Mohinder Sidhu and AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian. The Shiromani Akali Dal is yet to name its candidate from Bathinda seat.

The Bathinda seat is considered a SAD stronghold. Harsimrat won the Bathinda seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019. In the last Lok Sabha polls, she had defeated Congress candidate Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. The BJP fielded former MLA from Baba Bakala seat Manjit Singh Manna Mianwind from the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat.

Khadoor Sahib seat is currently held by Congress MP Jasbir Singh. The AAP has fielded Laljit Singh Bhullar from this seat.

The electoral process spans from April 19 to June 1, 2024, across seven phases, with results slated for June 4, ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha’s term conclusion on June 16, 2024.