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Samajwadi Party, the Congress’ INDIA bloc partner and ally in Uttar Pradesh, too, was dismissive of the list.Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the list was an acknowledgment of defeat.Yadav said the BJP announced candidates for those seats where it saw a slim chance of victory and had conceded defeat on other seats. The Lok Sabha has 543 seats for which elections are held. Two members of the Anglo-Indian Community are nominated to the House.Yadav also claimed that the BJP was forced to retain several MPs despite their alleged lack of performance or corruption taint, as it feared rebellion.“BJP’s first list is a declaration of the party’s hopelessness,” Yadav said in his post on the X platform, formerly Twitter.Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said the BJP’s decision to not field four prominent party figures in Delhi - Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Verma, Meenakshi Lekhi and Gautam Gambhir - acknowledged that its “legislators have failed to make a significant impact on the ground and lack visibility among the masses”. “Whenever the people required the Centre's support, their representatives in Parliament were absent,” he claimed.Also Read | Shah, Rajnath, Irani among 34 Union ministers named in BJP 1st list
Trinamool leader Mahua Moitra slammed the list for not naming enough women. "BJP announces 195 candidates of which 28 are women. A measly 14%. Whatever happened to the 33% reservation? Where are their vandanas now? Where is Nari Shakti?", the TMC leader, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha, wrote on X.Among the candidates named by the BJP, 28 are women, 27 are from scheduled castes, 18 from scheduled tribes and 57 from other backward classes (OBCs). A number of the female candidates come from SC, ST, or OBC communities.Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
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