BJP Releases 5th List for Lok Sabha Elections: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday released its fifth list of 111 candidates for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP’s 5th list features several big names including Actor Kangana Ranaut, Arun Govil, BJP leader Sambit Patra, Rajiv Pratap Rudi, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Giriraj Singh, former Congress MP Naveen Jindal, former-JMM leader Sita Soren and others. Surprisingly, the party has dropped the name of Varun Gandhi, a three times Lok Sabha MP from the Pilibhit constituency. However, her mother and BJP MP Maneka Gandhi has been again fielded by the party from the Sultanpur seat. 

Apart from Varun Gandhi, long time Bareilly MP and former Union Minister Santosh Gangwar has also been dropped and the party named Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar as the candidate from the seat.

Not only this, the BJP has fielded Atul Garg from Ghaziabad, as Union Minister General VK Singh and sitting MP expressed his unwillingness to contest the polls.

BJP re-announces candidates on Vadodara and Sabarkantha seats

In its 5th list, the BJP has fielded Kangana Ranaut from Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, Ramayan serial actor Arun Govil from Meerut (UP), BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra from Puri (Odisha), Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Saran (Bihar), Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib (Bihar), Giriraj Singh from Begusarai (Bihar), Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra (Haryana), Sita Soren from Dumka (Jharkhand), Nityanand Rai from Ujiarpur (Bihar), Jagadish Shettar from Belgaum (Karnataka), Dharmendra Pradhan from Sambalpur (Odisha), former bureaucrat Aparijita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar (Odisha) and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay from Tamluk (West Bengal), among other candidates.

Andhra Pradesh BJP unit chief D Purandareshwari has been fielded by the party from the Rajahmundry seat, while former Andhra Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who joined the BJP after quitting the Congress, has been fielded from Rajampet.

Not only this, former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who recently returned to the party from the Congress, has been fielded from Belgaum and former state minister K Sudhakar from Chikballapur.

In Kerala, state BJP chief K Surendran has been fielded from Wayanad, who will take on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Among other candidates in Gujarat, the party has announced Rajeshbhai Chudasama from Junagadh, ⁠Haribhai Patel from Mehsana, Shobhnaben Mahendrasinh Bariya from ⁠Sabarkantha, Dr Hemang Yogeshchandra Joshi from ⁠Vadodara, Bharatbhai Manubhai Sutariya from ⁠Amreli and Chandubhai Chhaganbhai Baraiya Shihora from ⁠Surendranagar.

Notably, candidates of Vadodara and Sabarkantha have been changed and announced again. The party took back the names, earlier announced by the party and announced new names from the constituency.

In Bihar, the party has fielded Union Ministers RK Singh from Arrah, Nityanand Rai from Ujiarpur, and Giriraj Singh from Begusarai. Former Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib, Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Saran, Radha Mohan Singh from Purvi Champaran, and Ram Kripal Yadav from Pataliputra also figure in the list.
 

This list has been released after a long brainstorming session at the BJP Central Election Committee meeting led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior party leaders were present in the meeting.

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections will take place in 7 phases across the country and result will be declared on June 4th.