Kangana Ranaut, Arun Govil, Naveen Jindal, Abhijit Gangopadhyay included in BJP’s fifth LS list

The BJP released its fifth list of Lok Sabha candidates, including Kangana Ranaut from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi, Ramayan’s Ram Arun Govil from UP’s Meerut, and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi from UP’s Sultanpur. Other prominent candidates include Naveen Jindal from Haryana’s Kurukshetra and Abhijit Gangopadhyay from West Bengal’s Tamluk.

In addition to the list, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will be contesting from Odisha’s Sambalpur, former IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar, and party spokesman Sambit Patra from Puri. Former Andhra Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who quit the Congress, will be standing from Rajampet while former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and state minister K. Sudhakar will be contesting from Belgaum and Chikballapur, respectively.

However, there are changes in some constituencies as sitting MP Varun Gandhi has been denied a ticket from UP’s Pilibhit and UP minister Jitin Prasad will be the candidate. Longtime Bareilly MP Santosh Gangwar has also been dropped and Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar named the candidate in his place.

Notably, Atul Garg will be contesting from Ghaziabad as Gen V.K. Singh (retd) expressed his unwillingness to contest the polls. The release of the candidate list includes names from 17 states, encompassing a variety of backgrounds and experiences, representing the BJP’s strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Overall, the BJP’s fifth list showcases a mix of experienced politicians, prominent personalities from different fields, and new entrants into the political arena, showcasing the party’s wide reach and diverse candidate selection across various states in India.