BJP on Sunday announced 111 additional candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. According to the latest list, union ministers Ashwini Kumar Choubey and VK Singh along with MP Varun Gandhi have been dropped.
Notably, actors Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil were nominated. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will contest from Sambalpur and party spokesperson Sambit Patra will seek election from Puri once more.
Maneka Gandhi will represent Sultanpur, while Jitin Prasada replaces Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit. Sita Soren is set to contest from Dumka (Jharkhand). The party opted not to field ex-Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde in the Uttara Kannada constituency. Among other nominees is former Calcutta High Court Judge Abhijeet Gangopadhyay.
Actor Arun Govil, known for his portrayal of Ram in TV series ‘Ramayan’, will contest from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat on the BJP ticket. On the other hand, actor Kangana Ranuat has been fielded from Mandi seat in Himachal Pradesh.
The election for the 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases beginning from April 19 to June 1. The counting of votes will be done on June 4.