2024 Lok Sabha Polls: Behind BJP's decision to replace sitting MPs with debutants in Maharashtra

The BJP, on March 13 announced a list of 20 candidates from Maharashtra as part of its second list.

Even as the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra discuss the final contours of the seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming general election, its biggest constituent-BJP has declared the names of 20 candidates from the state for the upcoming General Election.

The party has repeated 14 of its 19 candidates from the 2019 poll. Maharashtra, with its contribution of 48 MPs to the Lok Sabha, holds significant importance in the electoral landscape, second only to Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs.

BJP puts faith in sitting parliamentarians 

Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Nitin Gadkari will contest from Mumbai North and Nagpur LS seats respectively. The party replaced sitting MP Gopal Shetty from Mumbai North with Goyal.

Senior party leader and former minister Pankaja Munde will contest from Beed in Marathwada, replacing her sister Preetam Munde.

Two Union ministers for state Dr Bharti Pawar and Kapil Patil have been retained from their existing seats of Dindori (ST) and Bhiwandi, respectively. State Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar will contest from Chandrapur in Vidarbha, a lone seat won by Congress in the 2019 elections.

Five sitting MPs replaced by debutants

Five sitting MPs, including Gopal Shetty from Mumbai North and Manoj Kotak from Mumbai North East, have been dropped by the party to be replaced by debutants.

Shetty has been replaced by Union Minister Piyush Goyal, who will be contesting the Lok Sabha election for the first time.

Goyal had made it to the ministry by being elected through the Rajya Sabha until now. And Manoj Kotak has been replaced by Mihir Kotecha in the Mumbai North East seat.

Similarly, for the Beed constituency, two-time MP Pritam Munde has been replaced with her sister Pankaja Munde, a BJP national secretary and two-term former MLA from the state.

Both are daughters of former Union Minister and BJP leader late Gopinath Munde. In June last year, Pritam Munde had extended her support to the wrestlers demanding action against Wrestling Federation of India Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Why BJP refrained from naming candidates on Sena-NCP seats

Amid differences with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP over seat-sharing, the BJP refrained from declaring any candidates on seats that has sitting MPs of either of the allies.

The list also does not feature any of the constituencies held by leaders of Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena or Sharad Pawar's NCP.

Out of the seats that the party won in 2019, it is yet to declare candidates for Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Mumbai North Central, and Solapur.

Other than these seats, the BJP and the Sena also reportedly have a contention over Amravati, which is being held by sole independent MP Navneet Rana.

There is a tussle on between the Shinde-led Sena and the BJP over a number of seats, particularly in the Konkan and Marathwada regions, with both staking claim to those seats.

How the seat-sharing arrangement may shape up

According to media reports, the BJP may contest 30 seats, leaving 11 for the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and seven for Ajit Pawar’s NCP. The BJP’s insistence on fielding candidates from 32 seats was disturbing their alliance partners' arithmetic, therefore, the seat sharing formula had to be reworked multiple times.

Working towards mission 370+

The Bharatiya Janata Party's strategy to field fresh faces assumes significance considering the party's target of winning 370 seats on its own and 400 seats for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming Lok Sabha 2024 elections.

According to reports, the strategy of fielding fresh faces is aimed at keeping anti-incumbency at bay. Candidates are picked by the party's Central Election Committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after taking the feedback from the ground.