Acceding to a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) demand, BJP on Saturday dropped its declared candidate from Haridwar constituency and announced a Hindu monk as its official candidate.
"The party has made a small change in its list of candidates for Uttarakhand. Swami Yatindranand Giri would be
our candidate instead of Madan Kausik," the party's office secretary Shyam Jaju told PTI.
Kausik is a minister in the Uttarakhand government of BJP.
According to sources, VHP leaders, including Ashok Singhal, had recently led a delegation to party leader LK Advani, demanding that the Haridwar seat be left for "sadhus and saints".