The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released the first list of 182 candidates for Lok Sabha elections 2019. Names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and other senior leaders have appeared in the first list. Out of 184 candidates, 28 are from Uttar Pradesh, 28 from West Bengal, 21 from Karnataka, 16 each from Maharashtra and Rajasthan, 13 from Kerala,10 each from Telangana and Odisha, 8 from Assam, 5 each from Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttarakhand, 2 each from Manipur, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, 1 each from Mizoram, Sikkim, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, senior party leader JP Nadda said that PM Modi will seek re-election from Varanasi parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, there were reports that the prime minister may pick another temple town Puri. BJP president Amit Shah will contest from Gujarat's Gandhinagar. Shah's contesting from the Gandhinagar parliamentary seat apparently hints that party stalwart LK Advani's political career is over. This is the first time when he will be contesting the general elections. Currently, he is as a member of the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.
As expected, the BJP has filed Smriti Irani from Amethi, home turf of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. She has been active in the area despite losing the seat in 2014 general elections. Film actress-turned-politician Hema Malini will again contest from her Mathura seat. Â
General (retired) VK Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, will contest from Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh. In 2014, Singh created history by winning the seat with a margin of 5.67 lakh votes. Other candidates from the seat were actor-turned-politician Raj Babber and journalist-turned-politician Shazia Ilmi. Ilmi, who contested on Aam Aadmi Party's ticket, later joined the BJP.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow and another Union minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur. Both leaders had won from these seats in the last general election. Union minister Kiren Rijiju to fight from Arunachal East. The BJP has also renominated Union Minister Mahesh Sharma from Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida).
The BJP has finalised names of all 17 party candidates from Bihar and sent the list to the state unit which will announce it jointly with allies, Nadda said.Â
The Lok Sabha Elections 2019 will be held in seven phases, starting from April 11, while the results of all the phases will be declared on May 23. Announcing the seven-phase schedule for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora also said 10 lakh polling stations would be set up this time as against about nine lakhs in 2014.
In the first phase, 91 constituencies will go for polls, 97 constituencies in the second phase, 115 constituencies in the third, 71 in the fourth phase, 51 in the fifth phase, 59 in the sixth phase and 59 in the seventh phase. In the first phase, the polling will be held in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Delhi, Puducherry, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand.
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