Lok Sabha polls | BJP releases 2nd list of 72 candidates

New Delhi, Mar 13: The Bharatiya Janata Party released the second list of Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday, consisting of 72 candidates, including three former Chief Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Trivendra Singh Rawat, Basvaraj Bommai as well as four Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Anurag Thakur, and Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi.

The BJP has fielded former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for the Karnal Lok Sabha seat. Manohar Lal Khattar had earlier resigned from the position of Haryana Chief Minister on Tuesday.

In Himachal Pradesh, Union Minister Anurag Thakur will contest from the Hamirpur constituency. Suresh Kashyap has been fielded from Shimla seat.

In Karnataka, the party has fielded Union Minister Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad. Tejaswi Surya will contest from the Bangalore South constituency. Former Karnataka Chief Minister Basvaraj Bommai has been given a ticket from the Haveri Lok Sabha seat, while PC Mohan will contest from Bangalore Central.

In Maharashtra, the BJP has decided to field Union Minister Nitin Gadkari from the Nagpur seat. Piyush Goyal will contest from Mumbai North. Pankja Munde has been fielded from Beed.

The BJP also announced the candidature for two seats in Uttarakhand.

The party has fielded former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat from the Haridwar seat while Anil Baluni, who is the National Chief Spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party is set to contest from the Garhwal seat.

Also, BJP announced that Harsh Malhotra will contest from East Delhi constituency, a seat which was held by former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir. Yogendra Chandolia will contest from North West Delhi.

Meanwhile, Kalaben Delkar will contest from Dadar and Nagar Haveli.

In the second list, the BJP has announced the names of candidates for seven Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat.

In Gujarat, the party has fielded Hashmukhbhai Somabhai Patel from Ahmedabad East, Dhawal Patel from Valsad, Mukeshbhai Chandrakant Dalal from Surat, Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt from Vadodara, Nimuben Bambhania from Bhavnagar, Bhikhaji Dudhaji Thakor from Sabarkantha and Jashubhai Bhilubhai Rathwa from Chhota Udaipur.

Six names have been announced from Haryana.

Banto Kataria from Ambala, Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa, Chaudhary Dharambir Singh from Bhiwani-Mahendargah, Rao Inderjit Singh Yadav from Gurgaon, and Krishanpal Gurjar from Faridabad.

BJP has fielded Raghvendra from Shimoga and V Sommana from Tumkur in Karnataka.

In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has fielded Vivek 'Bunty' Sahu from the Chhindwara seat where he will face Congress leader Nakul Nath. Shankar Lalwani will contest from Indore.

In Maharashtra, Anup Dhotre will fight the polls from the Akola seat on the BJP ticket, and Kapil Moreshwar Patil from Bhiwandi.

In Telangana, Godam Nagesh will contest from Adilabad, DK Aruna from Mahbubnagar, and Saida Reddy will contest from Nalgonda. From Tripura East, Maharani Kriti Singh Debbarma will contest on BJP ticket.

Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday had released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi again.

Meanwhile, Congress has so far announced names for 82 Lok Sabha seats.

The BJP-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the grand-old party behind at 52 seats.The Lok Sabha polls are slated to be held in April-May this year. (ANI)