The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) released the first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections here in the national capital on March 2.
While at least 42 of the candidates who were elected to Parliament in 2019, have been replaced with new names, the party has also fielded at least seven ministers, who are currently Rajya Sabha members.
Among the ministers in PM Narendra Modi’s cabinet, who are Rajya Sabha members and will contest elections, include Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who will be contesting from Porbandar in Gujarat and junior IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who will contest from Thiruvananthapuram seat, held by the Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.
Another Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is the Union Civil Aviation Minister, will contest from Guna in Madhya Pradesh. Scindia, a former Congress leader had held Guna since 2002 until his loss to the BJP’s Krishna Pal Singh Yadav in 2019.
Scindia’s fellow Rajya Sabha colleague and Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav has been fielded from Alwar in Rajasthan while Union Fisheries Minister Purshotam Rupala has been fielded from Rajkot in Gujarat. Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan will contest from Attingal seat in Kerala, as mentioned in the first list.
Follow all live updates on BJP’s first list of candidates here
Former Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who is serving as the current Cabinet Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Cabinet Minister of AYUSH and is a Rajya Sabha member representing Assam since 2021, has been fielded from Dibrugarh in Assam.
Earlier this month, at least seven Union Ministers whose Rajya Sabha terms end in April were not re-nominated by the BJP to the Upper House.
A Union Minister has to be a member of either house of Parliament- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, as per the norms. If a person who is not a member of either house is appointed a minister, he/she shall cease to be a minister after six months, unless he/she to gets elected to either of the two houses.
Speaking in Bihar on March 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said several big leaders of the opposition parties are now scared to contest the Lok Sabha election and are seeking a Rajya Sabha route to Parliament. Though PM Modi did not take any name, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi opted for Rajya Sabha and got elected from Rajasthan unopposed. Gandhi is sitting Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli in UP.
Also Read : Lok Sabha Polls 2024 : Five takeaways from the first BJP candidate list
Other Rajya Sabha members in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet include Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane.
More names of some of these ministers, who are Rajya Sabha members, are expected to feature in BJP’s next lists of candidates for Lok Sabha polls 2024.
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Published: 02 Mar 2024, 10:41 PM IST