Hoping to get a massive first-mover advantage as it works towards its target of winning 370 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has announced a list of 195 candidates even before the poll dates have been notified. The list includes the party’s heaviest hitters, PM Narendra Modi, who will be contesting from Varanasi for the third time, and Home Minister Amit Shah, who will be fielded again from Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will contest from Lucknow and Smriti Irani will be fighting from Amethi, where she had pulled off a shock victory against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in 2019. 

As many as 34 ministers and two former chief ministers are on the list, which also includes 28 women, 47 leaders under the age of 50 and 57 members from the OBC community. Of the 195,  51 are from the all-important state of Uttar Pradesh, 20 from West Bengal and five from Delhi.

For Delhi, Praveen Khandelwal, Manoj Tiwari and Sushma Swaraj’s daughter Bansuri Swaraj are among the candidates. Ramesh Bidhuri, who was at the centre of a huge controversy following his alleged communal remarks against BSP lawmaker Danish Ali in the Lok Sabha last year, has not been repeated from the South Delhi seat. The seat will now be fought by Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, the leader of the opposition in the Delhi Assembly. 

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who had been elected from the Rajya Sabha earlier, will be contesting from Porbandar in Gujarat. Thiruvananthapuram is expected to see an interesting contest as another Rajya Sabha member and minister, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has been named from the seat, which is held by the Congress’ Shashi Tharoor. 

Among other Union ministers, Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest from Guna in Madhya Pradesh, a constituency the former Congress leader had held since 2002 until his loss to the BJP’s Krishna Pal Singh Yadav in 2019. His fellow Rajya Sabha colleague Bhupender Yadav will be fielded from Alwar and Kiren Rijiju will contest from Arunachal West.

In a surprising move amid the farmers’ protest, Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni will contest from the Kheri constituency again. Mr Teni’s son, Ashish, had been jailed for his alleged involvement in mowing down four farmers in Lakhmipur Kheri in 2021 and justice for the victims has been one of the key demands in the ongoing protests against the Union government. 

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who wasn’t made the Madhya Pradesh chief minister despite the BJP’s stunning victory last year, seems to be headed for a national role as he will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha. Another big headline from the state is that controversial MP Pragya Singh Thakur has not been repeated from Bhopal, which will now be contested by Alok Sharma. 

Among the other key candidates, Hema Malini will be fielded from Mathura, a constituency she has represented since 2014. Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb has been named from Tripura West. 

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has announced a first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, where they are hoping to win 370 seats. The list includes 34 Union Ministers as the party put its best foot forward putting out the names even before the Election Commission announcing the poll schedule.

Here are the heavyweights in the party’s 1st list of candidates for 2024 elections:

Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will once again contest from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. He has already won from the constituency twice and will be hoping for a hattrick this time.

In 2014, PM Modi defeated Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and in 2019, he won against Samajwadi Party’s Shalini Yadav.

Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had led the party to a thumping victory in the 2014 general elections, will contest from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar.

Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will contest from Lucknow in the upcoming elections.

Smriti Irani

After she pulled off a victory against Rahul Gandhi in Congress stronghold Amethi in 2019, Smriti Irani has once again been entrusted with the key constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

Jyotiraditya Scindia

Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest from Guna in Madhya Pradesh, a constituency the former Congress leader had held since 2002 until his loss to the BJP’s Krishna Pal Singh Yadav in 2019.

Shivraj Singh Chauhan

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who wasn’t made the Madhya Pradesh chief minister despite the BJP’s stunning victory last year, seems to be headed for a national role as he will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha.

Kiren Rijiju

Kiren Rijiju, who currently holds the Earth Sciences portfolio, will contest from Arunachal West. Since the BJP came to power for a 2nd term in 2019, Rijiju has spearheaded several key ministries like Law and youth affairs.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has fielded by the BJP for a high-stakes battle in Thiruvananthapuram, a seat which is held by Congress’ Shashi Tharoor.

Mr Chandrasekhar, who is among the ministers not renominated to the Rajya Sabha, had recently told PTI that he is raring to contest his first Lok Sabha polls and looking forward to “an even more exciting phase” in his political career.

Hema Malini

Actor-politician Hema Malini has been again fielded from Mathura. In the 2014 and 2019 elections, the veteran Bollywood actor had registered emphatic victories with a margin of over 3 lakh votes both times.

Bhupender Yadav

A stalwart for the BJP in confronting challenges, Bhupender Yadav is stepping into his first Lok Sabha election after serving as a party office-bearer for over two decades. Mr Yadav, the BJP’s choice from Alwar in Rajasthan is recognized as a non-controversial figure who adeptly tackles issues.

The BJP won 303 seats in the 2019 polls but currently it has 290 members in Lok Sabha for various reasons including some MPs recently resigning after winning assembly polls.

The Election Commission is expected to announce the poll schedule later this month and the elections are likely to be held in April-May.

On a day that the BJP released its first list of 195 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, the National Democratic Alliance led by the party also got a boost with Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal formally joining the bloc. The Uttar Pradesh-based party was a part of the opposition INDIA alliance and had been indicating for some time now that the switch was likely to happen. 

Posting photos of Mr Chaudhary meeting him and Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda said in Hindi on X, “I met RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary in the presence of Amit Shah. I heartily welcome his decision to join the NDA family. Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, you will make an important contribution to the journey towards a developed India and the development of Uttar Pradesh.” 

Rumours that an alliance between the BJP and the RLD was in the works had been doing the rounds for a while and had got credence when the Bharat Ratna was announced for Mr Chaudhary’s grandfather and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh on February 9. The RLD chief had welcomed the honour, writing, “Dil jeet liya mera (They have won my heart).

When reporters had asked him if he was going to ally with the BJP, Mr Chaudhary had said, “Is there anything left? How can I refuse?”

Three days later, he had indicated that the deal with the BJP had been sealed and a formal announcement could be expected soon. On questions that people in his party were not happy with the decision, the RLD chief had said he had made it only after speaking to everyone and in the interest of the people of Uttar Pradesh.