The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released a list of 24 candidates across seven states for the Lok Sabha elections, denying tickets to 10 sitting MPs, including Union minister Uma Bharti and five-time MP from Ranchi Ram Tahal Choudhary.
The list, finalised by the BJP’s Central Election Committee, has names of eight candidates from Haryana, four each from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand and one each from West Bengal and Odisha.
Bharti, who had announced that she wouldn’t contest the Lok Sabha polls, has been replaced in Jhansi by Anurag Sharma, the owner of Baidyanath Group.
In Uttar Pradesh, the party has also dropped Banda MP Bhairon Prasad Mishra and replaced him by RK Patel, while Nilam Sonkar has retained her Lalganj seat. From Phulpur, the party has fielded Keshri Devi Patel.
Among the eight candidates announced from Haryana, the party has dropped three MPs and retained five. In Rajasthan, three sitting MPs have been dropped. In Jharkhand, Ram Tahal Choudhary has been replaced by Sanjay Seth. In Madhya Pradesh, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s Gwalior seat has gone to Vivek Shejwalkar. Tomar is shifted to Morena. In Chindwara, Natthan Shah has been pitted against Nakul Nath. In West Bengal’s Purulia, the BJP has fielded Jyotirmoy Mahato, while the Jagatsinghpur seat in Odisha has gone to Bibhuti Prasad Tarai.