BJP fifth list full of surprises; 37 MPs dropped, actors, ex-Congress stars fielded

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s fifth list of 111 Lok Sabha elections’ candidates is full of surprises. The party has dropped 37 sitting MPs, including union ministers Ashwini Kumar Choubey, VK Singh and Varun Gandhi. In a surprise move, it has fielded actors Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil.

Several ex-Congress stalwarts and other leaders from the Opposition — who joined the BJP — have been named in the list.

Here are the key takeaways from BJP’s fifth list

The BJP has fielded Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan from Sambalpur. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra will contest from Puri; he lost the polls from the seat in 2019.

The BJP has axed six-time MP from Karnataka, Anantkumar Hegde, whose recent remark on the Constitution triggered a huge political row.

The party has denied tickets to 37 MPs, including nine in Uttar Pradesh, five in Gujarat, four in Odisha and three each in Bihar, Karnataka and Jharkhand.

Several leaders who joined the BJP after quitting other parties, including Sita Soren, Tapas Roy and N Kiran Kumar Reddy, feature on the last. Ex-Congress stalwarts Naveen Jindal and Jitin Prasada have been fielded from Kurukshetra and Pilibhit respectively.

Kerala BJP president K Surendra will take on Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad.

Rekha Patra, who party leaders said is one of the Sandeshkhali victims, has been fielded from West Bengal’s Basirhat constituency.

Union minister Giriraj Singh has got a BJP ticket from Begusarai and former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib.

Union ministers R K Singh and Nityanand Rai have also been fielded from their current seats.

While sitting MP Varun Gandhi has been axed from Pilibhit, his mother Maneka Gandhi has been renominated from Sultanpur.

Atul Garg has replaced two-term MP V K Singh in Ghaziabad.

Kangana Ranaut will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Mandi, whereas Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in Ramayan, has been fielded from Meerut.

Sita Soren, the sister-in-law of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, is the BJP’s candidate from Dumka. She had quit the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha a few days ago.

Former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar will contest from Belgaum.

Former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay will contest from Bengal’s Tamluk. In a surprise shift, Dilip Ghosh, the MP from Medinipur, has been shifted to Bardhaman–Durgapur.