The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) on Saturday announced its first list of 195 candidates for the ensuing 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Out of this list, 34 sitting union ministers are in the fray and from them 8 are from Rajya Sabha.
Union Shipping Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, who is a sitting MP from the upper house will contest from Assam’s Dibrugarh. The former Assam Chief Minister will contest the seat in place of the sitting Union Minister, Rameshwar Teli.
Union Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is a sitting Rajya Sabha member will contest from his home base in Guna, Madhya Pradesh. Jyotiraditya Scindia had lost that seat in 2014 to the BJP. In 2020, he jumped to the saffron party.
The Gujarat twins, Mansukh Mandaviya and Purushotham Rupala will be in the electoral fray from their home state. Rupala has been a Rajya Sabha MP for more than two terms and he will be contesting from Rajkot. Mandaviya, who is also a two-term member, will be fielded from Porbandar.
Another Union Minister who will try his fortune in the Lok Sabha election is Bhupender Yadav who will contest from Rajasthan’s Alwar. This seat was vacated after the sitting Member of Parliament, Baba Balaknath, contested and won in the recent assembly elections.
Two Union Ministers who will try their fortune from the southern state of Kerala are in for an interesting contest. Minister of State for Information and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar will be fitted against former minister of external affairs. While V. Muraleedharan will contest from Thiruvananthapuram’s Attingal.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has been repeated in the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls. At the same time, Home Minister Amit Shah, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, Earth and Science Minister Kiren Rijiju, and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal are amongst others, who are retained.
Minister of State External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi has been replaced by Bansuri Swaraj. Incidentally, Bansuri Swaraj’s mother, Sushma Swaraj, was the external minister in Narendra Modi’s tenure from 2014 to 2019.
Another minister in the government, Pratima Bhoumik is unlikely to get a seat since former chief minister of Tripura and Rajya Sabha MP Biplab Deb has been named to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Bhumik was one of those nine ministers in the Modi government from 2021 till date.
With more lists expected in the coming few weeks, there are quite a few union ministers whose fortunes are still to be tested. Among the key names which are awaited to be announced includes that of Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is certain to contest from Odisha.
Speculations are also rife that despite being given a Rajya Sabha term, Dr L Murugan maybe asked to contest from Nilgiri against A Raja from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party.
With the target set of winning 370 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the task for the BJP has truly begun. Like the case of the recent assembly elections, early announcement of seats can help the BJP reap benefits.
This is the same strategy that the saffron party seems to have adopted for one of its biggest agendas of securing a record 3rd term of government in the centre and Modi, becoming the prime minister for the third time in a row.
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