Lucknow: The BJP on Sunday declared 13 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls including Ramayan TV serial-fame actor Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Ram, from Meerut, while replacing sitting MP Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit with UP PWD minister Jitin Prasada.
Varun Gandhi has recently been vocal against the BJP on several issues, including employment and health. However, his mother Maneka Gandhi has been retained in the list of the candidates, and has been fielded from Sultanpur parliamentary constituency.
The BJP has fielded Atul Garg from Ghaziabad and dropped sitting MP and Union Minister V K Singh. Shortly before the list was announced, Singh said in a post on X that he will not contest the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Similarly, the party has fielded Ramesh Awasthi from Kanpur Lok Sabha seat, after sitting MP Satyadev Pachauri on Sunday expressed his unwillingness to contest the elections and conveyed the same to the party’s national president J P Nadda.
This is the second list of candidates from UP released by the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections. The party is yet to declare its candidate for the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat.
In Budaun, the party has announced the name of Durvijay Singh Shakya, overlooking its current MP Sanghamitra Maurya.
In Bareilly, the party has replaced sitting MP Santosh Gangwar and given the ticket to Chattrapal Singh Gangwar.
The party has announced Raghav Lakhanpal as its nominee from Saharanpur, Sarvesh Singh from Moradabad and Satish Gautam from Aligarh seats.
On the reserved seats of Barabanki and Bahraich, the BJP has named Rajrani Rawat and Arvind Gond respectively.
The BJP in its first list had named its sitting MP Upendra Rawat from Barabanki. Rawat, however, refused to contest the election after an obscene video allegedly involving him surfaced on social media.
