LS polls: BJP releases 5th list of candidates, Kangana Ranaut, ex-Calcutta HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay among nominees

Kangana Ranaut

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its 5th list for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024. Among the nominees, new joinee Naveen Jindal, actor Kangana Ranaut, former Calcutta High Court Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay have also been fielded.

Ranuat has been fielded from Mandi seat in Himachal Pradesh. On her candidature, shed posted "My beloved Bharat and Bhartiya Janta’s own party, Bharatiya Janta party ( BJP) has always had my unconditional support. Today the national leadership of BJP has announced me as their Loksabha candidate from my birthplace Himachal Pradesh, Mandi (constituency) I abide by the high command’s decision on contesting Loksabha polls. I feel honoured and elated to officially join the party. I look forward to be a worthy 'karyakarta' and a reliable public servant."

The party fielded Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur, while Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada has replaced Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit. Sita Soren will fight from Dumka (Jharkhand). The party has dropped ex-Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde from Uttara Kannada constituency. It has dropped ex-Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde from Uttara Kannada constituency.

From sitting Cabinet ministers - Union minister for power and new and renewable energy RK Singh retains BJP ticket from Arrah constituency in Bihar. Actor Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in Ramayana, gets BJP ticket to fight Lok Sabha election from Meerut.

Further, K. Surendran has been fielded in the lost to take on Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad.

Here are the key names

--Nityanand Rai to contest from Ujiarpur.
--Giriraj Singh from Begusarai.
--Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib.
--Kangana Ranaut from Mandi.
--Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra.
--Sita Soren (daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren, president of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) from Dumka.
--Jagadish Shettar from Belgaum.
--K Sudhakaran from Chikkaballapur
--Dharmendra Pradhan from Sambalpur.
--Pratap Sarangi from Balasore.
--Sambit Patra from Puri.
--Aparijita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar.
--Actor Arun Govil to contest from Meerut.
-- Agnimitra Paul from Medinipur.
-- Nityanand Rai to contest from Ujiarpur.
-- Giriraj Singh from Begusarai.
-- Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib.
-- Actor Kangana Ranaut from Mandi.
-- Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra.
-- Jagadish Shettar from Belgaum.
-- Sambit Patra from Puri.
--Jitin Prasada from Pilibhit.
--Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur.
--Raju Bista from Darjeeling.
--Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay from Tamluk.
--Dilip Ghosh from Bardhaman-Durgapur.
--Arjun Singh from Barrackpore.
--Agnimitra Paul from Medinipur.
--Baijayant Jay Panda to contest from Kendrapara.

On March 22, the saffron party rolled out the fourth list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

From Puducherry, the party has fielded A Namassivayam. As for Tamil Nadu, the party has announced the name of the following candidates -- Pon V Balaganapathy (Tiruvallur), RC Paul Kanagaraj (Chennai North), A Ashwathaman (Tiruvannamalai), KP Ramalingam (Namakkal), AP Muruganandam (Tiruppur), K Vasantharajan (Pollachi), VV Senthilnathan (Karur), P Karthiyayini (Chidambaram), SGM Ramesh (Nagapattinam), M Muruganandam (Thanjavur), Devanathan Yadav (Sivaganga), Raama Sreenivasan (Madurai), Raadhika Sarathkumar (Virudhunagar), B John Pandian (Tenkasi).

The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country will be held in seven phases starting from April 19 to June 1. The counting of votes will be done on June 4.

About 97 crore voters are eligible to cast vote in the upcoming general election.