BJP releases first list of candidates, PM Modi to contest from Varanasi
New Delhi, Mar 21 (IBNS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday evening announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming general elections and stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest the polls from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
Modi had retained the Varanasi constituency after winning from two seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
BJP President Amit Shah will contest the elections from the Gandhinagar seat in Gujarat, which is his hometown. Last time, party veteran LK Advani had won the elections from the Gandhinagar constituency.
Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari will contest from Lucknow and Nagpur respectively.
Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh will fight the elections from Ghaziabad while Union Minister Smriti Irani will contesting from Amethi in Congress. In 2014, Irani lost to Congress President Rahul Gandhi from the Amethi seat.
Actress-turned-MP Hema Malini will contest from her existing constituency Mathura and Sakshi Maharaj will fight from Unnao.
The first list by BJP has named 182 candidates.
The BJP announced the list after a third meeting by the central election panel took place on Wednesday.
The Lok Sabha elections, which will be held in seven phases, commences on April 11.
The counting of the votes will take place on May 23.
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