The BJP announced its candidates for 13 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, bringing its total tally to 63 out of 80 seats. Among the notable names is Arun Govil, famed for portraying Lord Ram in the iconic TV series "Ramayan," who will contest from Meerut.
However, the party decided to replace sitting MP Varun Gandhi with state minister Jitin Prasada in Pilibhit constituency. Varun Gandhi, who has recently been critical of the BJP on various issues like employment and healthcare, has been left out, but his mother, Maneka Gandhi, will still be running for the Sultanpur seat.
The party's decision also saw some significant changes in other constituencies. For instance, Union Minister Gen V K Singh (retd), who represented Ghaziabad, was replaced by MLA Atul Garg. Singh had announced his decision not to contest shortly before the candidate list was released. Similarly, Ramesh Awasthi was chosen to replace sitting MP Satyadev Pachauri in Kanpur after Pachauri expressed his unwillingness to contest further.
This marks the second list of BJP candidates released for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. However, no candidate has been announced for the Raebareli constituency.
Other candidates fielded by the BJP from Uttar Pradesh include Raghav Lakhanpal (Saharanpur), Sarvesh Singh (Moradabad), Satish Gautam (Aligarh), Anoop Valmiki (Hathras-SC), Durvijay Singh Shakya (Budaun), Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar (Bareilly), Rajrani Rawat (Barabanki-SC), and Arvind Gond (Bahraich-SC).
This election cycle saw tickets denied to several sitting MPs, including Santosh Gangwar (Bareilly), Sanghamitra Maurya (Budaun), Upendra Singh Rawat (Barabanki-SC), Rajveer Singh Diler (Hathras-SC), Akshayvar Gaud (Bahraich-SC), and Rajendra Agrawal (Meerut).
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