New Delhi: The ruling BJP on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
The list also included two former ministers as well as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla from Kota in Rajasthan.
Union ministers whose names have been announced by the BJP in the first list of candidates include Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Bhupender Yadav, Mansukh Mandaviya, Sarbananda Sonowal, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Arjun Ram Meghwal, G Kishan Reddy, Arjun Munda and Smriti Irani.
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.
From Delhi, Bansuri Swaraj, daugher of the late Sushma Swaraj will content from New Delhi while Manoj Tiwari will contest from North Delhi seat.
From South Delhi, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri will be the party's candidate. Kamaljeet Sehrawat will contest from West Delhi while Confederation of All India Traders general secretary and businessman Praveen Khandelwal will contest from Chandani Chowk.
Other prominent names include Smriti Irani (Amethi), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Raja Bhaiya (Gonda), Ravi Kishan (Gorakhpur), Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Hema Malini (Mathura), Arjun Ram Meghwal (Bikaner), Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Thiruvananthapuram), among others.
Amogn the 195 candidates, there are 34 union ministers, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla (Kota) and 2 former union ministers.
Around 15% candidates in the first list are women as 28 women have been fielded.
47 candidates are less than 50 years of age.
27 candidates belong to Schedule Caste while 18 are Schedule Tribes. There are 57 OBC candidates (30%) in the first list.
State-wise list of candidates:
Uttar Pradesh - 52
West Bengal - 20
Madhya Pradesh - 24
Gujarat - 15
Rajasthan - 15
Kerala - 12
Telangana - 9
Assam - 11
Jharkhand - 11
Chhattisgarh - 11
Delhi - 5
Jammu and Kashmir - 2
Uttarakhand - 3
Arunachal Pradesh - 2
Goa - 1
Tripura - 1
Andaman - 1
Daman - 1
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