BJP releases its first List of 195 candidates for Lok Sabha elections, PM Modi to contest from Varanasi

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its first list of 195 candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, representing 16 states and two Union Territories. This follows a comprehensive meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC), presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be running for the third time from the Varanasi constituency. The list includes 34 Union Ministers, Ministers of State, and two former Chief Ministers.

During the CEC meeting, the party decided to give its candidates who did not win in the previous election ample time to campaign and connect with voters. The party has informally assigned in-charges to these "weak" seats. In Uttar Pradesh, BJP General Secretary Sunil Bansal is giving extra attention to the seats the party lost in the last election. The party is optimistic about winning these constituencies, having won 62 of the 78 Lok Sabha seats it contested in Uttar Pradesh in the previous election. This optimism is bolstered by the inauguration of the Ayodhya Ram temple, the decision of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to join the NDA, and a weaker opposition compared to the last election.

A BJP official noted that the party had announced candidates for the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections even before the Election Commission declared the election schedule. A BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh suggested that an early announcement of the Lok Sabha candidates would portray the BJP as a disciplined party with "resolute leadership".

In Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest number of Lok Sabha seats at 80, the BJP is expected to reserve two seats for the RLD. The party led by Jayant Chaudhary had also supported the BJP's eighth candidate in the February 27 Rajya Sabha elections, contributing to the defeat of the Samajwadi Party's third candidate. The BJP is also expected to reserve one or two seats for the Apna Dal (S), one for the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), and one for the NISHAD Party.