In Delhi, the party replaced six sitting MPs and only one was re-elected.
New Delhi:
In the two lists released by the BJP so far, the party has nominated 267 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, and nearly 21% of the current members have not been repeated in their respective constituencies. The strategy has been designed with possible anti-incumbency behavior in mind and the decisions are based on feedback the party gets from the grassroots, sources said.
The choice of candidates is also important given that the party is aiming to win 370 seats in the Lok Sabha polls in a few weeks, which would net 67 more constituencies than in 2019.
The first list released on March 2 had only 33 MPs, including Pragya Thakur. Ramesh Bidhuri and Parvesh Verma were replaced and 30 MPs were eliminated from the 72-candidate list on Wednesday despite 195 candidates being nominated.
Of the 267 MPs in both lists, the number of recurring incumbents is high at 140, while 67 MPs did not receive votes. Two of the MPs, including Gautam Gambhir, who was replaced by Harsh Malhotra in east Delhi, have decided not to contest.
Numbers game
In the second list, Maharashtra and Karnataka have 20 names each, Gujarat has 7 names, Telangana and Haryana have 6 names each and Madhya Pradesh has 5 names. 2 names each from Delhi, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and 1 name each from Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
In Delhi, the BJP replaced six sitting MPs, with only Manoj Tiwari being re-elected.
Of the 20 candidates announced in the second list for Karnataka, 11 MPs were replaced while only eight were repeated.
The opposite was true in Maharashtra, where 14 MLAs were double-voted and votes of only 5 MLAs were cancelled. Duplicate MPs include Union Minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur, while Pritam Munde is represented by her sister Pankaja Munde in Beed (Pankaja Munde) takes over.
For Gujarat, only three of the seven sitting MPs were repeated in the second list. Those omitted include Union Minister Darshana Jardosh, who has been replaced by Mukesh Dalal.
Of the six candidates in the second list announced in Haryana, three sitting MLAs have been repeated and two have been replaced. A new candidate has been appointed to the seat where the incumbent passed away.
The BJP won only four seats in Telangana last time but now one MP has been re-elected and one vote has been cancelled.
Of the five Madhya Pradesh candidates announced in the second list, two MPs were duplicated and two were omitted. New candidate Vivek Sahu will contest from Chhindwara constituency against Nakul Nath, the only seat the BJP lost in the state in 2019.
Both Himachal Pradesh MPs in the second list, including Union Minister Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur, have received votes again, while both MPs from Uttarakhand has been replaced.
One MP from Tripura was replaced, while Dadra and Nagar Haveli MPs from Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction will now contest on behalf of the BJP.
