Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced senior party leader Sanjay Tandon as the candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Chandigarh Parliamentary Constituency after two-time MP Kirron Kher opted out due to her health condition. 

The 60-year-old Tandon is the party's co-incharge for Himachal Pradesh and is the son of former Chhattisgarh governor (2014-August 2018) late Balramji Das Tandon who was one of the founding members of the Jan Sangh and later also served as Punjab BJP chief. Tandon was also the Chandigarh BJP president for nearly a decade.

A chartered accountant by profession, Tandon is also the president of the UT Cricket Association Chandigarh. Tandon did his early schooling in Amritsar and later, the family moved to Chandigarh. He became a chartered accountant in 1986.

Tandon was in the reckoning for the ticket in 2014 and 2019 as well.  When Kher’s name was declared in 2014, some BJP workers had even protested showing black flags on her arrival in Chandigarh. But the BJP had gone with actor Kher due to apparent factionalism in the party at that time.

As Kher had already bowed out of the race this time due to her health condition, the choice for the BJP top leadership was between Tandon or a big leader from outside. Actress Kangana Ranaut’s name was also said to have been discussed for the ticket due to her stay here for a while before she moved to Mumbai. BJP’s central election committee picked Tandon’s name from a shortlist that also included the names of former MP Satya Pal Jain and former BJP Chandigarh chief Arun Sood. Kher congratulated Tandon on Facebook minutes after the announcement was made and extended her best wishes for his campaign

Tandon thanked his party leadership for giving him the ticket from Chandigarh, which will go to polls in the last phase of general elections on June 1.  "It is a moment of great happiness for me. The party has given me an opportunity by nominating me as a candidate for the Lok Sabha polls from Chandigarh. I thank my party's leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.”

Talking to reporters outside his residence where the party supporters had gathered to congratulate him, Tandon said, “I have been connected with people of Chandigarh for the last 40 years in one way or the other. I assure them I will not leave any stone unturned to serve them like a family member."

Since 1967, Congress won the Chandigarh Lok Sabha election seven times, while BJP has secured it four times. Kher won the Chandigarh seat in 2014 and 2019, defeating former Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal who thrice won the seat in 1999, 2004 and 2009. The Congress has not named its candidate for the seat yet. Bansal and Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari are the front-runners for the Congress ticket from Chandigarh.