The BJP has named lawyer Ujjwal Nikam who was the public prosecutor in the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks as its candidate from Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency. Mr Nikam replaces Poonam Mahajan, the current MP from this seat, as the party’s candidate.

Mr Nikam was also the prosecutor in the murder case of Pramod Mahajan, the father of Poonam Mahajan, who was shot dead by his brother Pravin in April 2006 following a dispute.

Poonam Mahajan was elected from the constituency in 2014 and 2019. She is also a former president of the BJP’s youth wing.

Party leaders have said the decision to drop her was based on organisational feedback, news agency PTI reported.

Though indications had been there for some time Poonam that Mahajan would be dropped, it was the party’s search for her replacement that took time, sources told PTI.

The Congress fielded its city unit chief and Dharavi MLA Varsha Gaikwad from Mumbai North Central.

Voting in Mumbai is scheduled on May 20 in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP also named eight more candidates for the Odisha assembly polls, which will be held alongside the general elections.

During a Gujarat rally, Priyanka Gandhi humorously critiques PM Modi’s wealth redistribution claims and inflation policies. Rahul Gandhi predicts Modi’s potential tears during speeches, hinting at underlying anxiety.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday unleashed a scathing attack on the opposition INDIA bloc, particularly the Congress, accusing it of using “anti-national agendas and appeasement’ to compete against BJP-led NDA in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. Addressing a public rally in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at the opposition INDIA bloc for “demanding separate nation by splitting South India’.