Kangana Ranaut will compete from her hometown Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. (document)

New Delhi:

Popular actors Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil have appeared in the latest list of candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Mr Govil, who played Ram in the popular TV series “Ramayana”, has contested from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat, while Bollywood actor Ranaut will contest from her hometown Mandi in Himachal Pradesh Contest.

The 37-year-old actor, a staunch supporter of the BJP, thanked the party for announcing her as the Lok Sabha candidate from Mandi. Congress leader Pratibha Singh currently represents the constituency.

“My beloved Bharatiya Janata Party and its own party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has always had my unconditional support and today the national leadership of the BJP announced me as their Lok Sabha candidate from the place of my birth Himachal Pradesh Mandi (constituency) I abide by the high command’s decision to contest the Lok Sabha polls,” she posted on X.

My beloved Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political party of the country, has always had my unconditional support and today the national leadership of the BJP announced me as their Lok Sabha candidate from Himachalaya, my birthplace Mandi (constituency), Kalbang, I abide by the high…

— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) March 24, 2024

Ms. Ranaut’s great-grandfather, Sarju Singh Ranaut, was a Member of Parliament.

Both the actors attended the grand Rama temple event in Ayodhya in January.

The BJP has held a series of election meetings and tonight nominated 111 more candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will once again contest from Sambalpur after losing a close election in 2019 Dharmendra Pradhan and party spokesperson Sambit Patra from Puri. Big names like Union ministers Ashwini Kumar Choubey and VK Singh and Congress MP Varun Gandhi were left out.

Earlier in the day, VK Singh had announced that he would not contest the Lok Sabha polls.

Maneka Gandhi has been fielded from Sultanpur, while Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada has replaced Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit. Sita Soren, who recently switched to the BJP from JMM, will contest from Dumka (Jharkhand).

The party also ousted former Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde from North Kannada constituency.