19 March,2024 07:31 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
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As the 18th Indian general elections are approaching, the citizens prepare for casting their votes and the political parties across have geared up with their election strategies. India has total 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, and voting for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls will be held between April 19 and June 1. The elections will be in held in seven phases and the results will be declared on June 4, the Election Commission announced recently.
The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) setting its foot ahead among all political parties in the country, was the first to officially release its list of candidates nominated for the Lok Sabha. BJP- the largest political party in the country, released its first list of candidates on March 2 and second list on March 13. Till now the party has announced total 267 candidates.
In his Lok Sabha speech last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exemplified confidence in coming into power for the third consecutive time and set an ambitious target for the BJP to win 370-plus seats. The party won 303 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. As the BJP works on its campaign strategies to achieve its winning target, lets take a look at some prominent candidates nominated by the party.
The first list has 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The list mentioned PM Narendra Modi at the top, nominated from Varanasi constituency, where he won in 2019 Lok Sabha too. The BJP fielded 34 union ministers, including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, among other prominent names.
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Click here to check first list of BJP candidates
In its second, list the party announced 72 more candidates featuring prominent names like union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Anurag Thakur and Piyush Goyal, former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal, former Karnataka CM Basavraj Bommai among others.
Click here to check second list of BJP candidates
The first list included, 11 candidates from Assam, 11 each from Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand, five from Delhi, 15 each from Gujarat and Rajasthan, 24 from Madhya Pradesh, 51 from Uttar Pradesh, 19 from West Bengal and others.
The second list included 20 each from Maharashtra and Karnataka, seven from Gujarat, six each from Haryana and Telangana, five from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Delhi, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and others.
The BJP is expected to release its third list of Lok Sabha candidates soon as the core committee has been holding meeting to discuss potential candidates.
