The BJP on Saturday released its first list of candidates comprising 195 names for the upcoming elections. The saffron party has announced 51 names of candidates from Uttar Pradesh and nominated Mahesh Sharma as its candidate from the Gautam Budh Nagar constituency for the Lok Sabha elections.
Soon after the announcement, in a post on X, Sharma wrote, “Once again, the world’s largest political party, Bharatiya Janata Party, has made me the candidate from Gautam Budh Nagar Lok Sabha constituency.”
“It is my good fortune that I am nominated to be a public representative from Gautam Buddha Nagar Lok Sabha seat of Uttar Pradesh, the largest state of the country, to take forward the dreams, aspirations and hopes of a new and developed India under the energetic and visionary leadership of the Honorable Prime Minister. I have once again received the privilege of serving,” he added, thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda and the party’s top leadership.
Born on 30 September 1959 in Rajasthan’s Alwar, Sharma is a doctor by profession. He has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since his childhood, and was with the ABVP, the student’s wing of the BJP, during his life as a student.
He had contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from the Gautam Budh Nagar constituency in 2009, but had lost by 15,000 votes. While he got 2.3 lakh votes, BSP’s Surendra Nagar got 2.45 lakh votes.
He was elected as a BJP MLA from Noida Legislative Assembly Constituency, Uttar Pradesh in March 2012. He had defeated BSP’s Omdutt Sharma by a margin of 27,644 votes.
His tryst with the Indian Parliament began when he was elected as an MP from the Gautam Budh Nagar constituency in 2014, when the BJP came to power ousting the Congress. This was the first time that a candidate in Gautam Budh Nagar Lok Sabha constituency had won is all the five Assembly segments – Noida, Dadri, Jewar, Khurja and Sikandarabad – under it. Following this, he was appointed as the minister of state (Independent charge) for culture and tourism.