The BJP on March 30 named its candidates for 11 more Lok Sabha constituencies, fielding a number of leaders who joined it from different parties recently such as Bhartruhari Mahtab, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Sushil Kumar Rinku and Preneet Kaur.
All these leaders have been fielded from the seats they represent in the outgoing Lok Sabha, while former Indian ambassador to the U.S. Taranjit Singh Sandhu will be making his poll debut from Amritsar.
Veteran parliamentarian Mahtab, who quit the BJD recently, will contest from Cuttack and Bittu from Ludhiana. Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Lok Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Rinku, who recently joined the BJP, has been fielded from Jalandhar. In 2023, Mr. Rinku joined AAP after leaving the Congress ahead of the Jalandhar parliamentary by-election that he won.
The BJP has dropped Sunny Deol, its sitting MP from Gurdaspur, and has fielded Dinesh Singh Babbu, a three-time MLA and former Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, instead. Preneet Kaur, the former Congress leader and MP, will contest from Patiala. Ms. Kaur, a four-time MP and a former Union Minister, is the wife of former Punjab Chief Minister and BJP leader Amarinder Singh.
Ravneet Singh Bittu, the former Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP from Ludhiana who on March 27 joined the BJP, is the party’s Ludhiana candidate. He is the grandson of late Chief Minister Beant Singh. Hans Raj Hans, BJP MP from North West Delhi, has been shifted to Punjab where he will contest from the Faridkot (SC) constituency.
Earlier this week, the BJP’s state president Sunil Jakhar put to rest speculations that it could join hands with its old ally the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the 2024 election. The BJP and SAD have been allies 1996. However, amid the controversy over the now-repealed farm laws, the SAD broke away from the NDA in 2020.
The BJP on Sunday named two candidates from West Bengal, three from Odisha and six from Punjab.
It has so far announced its candidates for 411 seats.
(with inputs from PTI)
