The BJP unveiled its initial roster of 195 candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi slated to run from Varanasi, as confirmed by party general secretary Vinod Tawde.
The lineup comprises 34 central and state ministers, along with two former chief ministers, as per Tawde. Besides Modi, notable candidates in the BJP’s first list include Kiren Rijiju for Arunachal West, Sarbananda Sonowal for Dibrugarh, Smriti Irani for Amethi, Manoj Tiwari for North-east Delhi, Bansuri Swaraj for New Delhi, Amit Shah for Gandhinagar, Mansukh Mandaviya for Porbandar, CR Patil for Navsari, and Nishikant Dubey for Godda.
Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest from Guna in Madhya Pradesh, while Bhupender Yadav, a member of the Rajya Sabha, will run from Alwar.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, will contest from Vidhisha, MP, in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
The party recently conducted consecutive meetings to assess the performance of MPs before finalizing its contenders for the pivotal 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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Announcing the list, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde said the party is confident that it would form the government for the third term under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a much bigger mandate.
He also said the party has been working on further expanding its footprint across states and also to strengthen the ruling National Democratic Alliance.
The list includes 28 women and 47 young leaders, he said.
The Election Commission is expected to announce the poll schedule later this month and the elections are likely to be held in April-May.
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.
This electoral contest marks the first time the NDA will confront the unified opposition of the INDIA bloc, spearheaded by the Congress.
Prime Minister Modi has already outlined an ambitious goal of securing 370 seats for the BJP alone, while the NDA aims to surpass the “400 paar” mark
