Lok Sabha polls 2024: BJP names 11 more candidates; Mahtab from Cuttack, ex-ambassador Sandhu from Amritsar

The BJP on Saturday released its eighth list of 11 candidates across three states - Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal - for the Lok Sabha elections.

The list features several leaders who joined the BJP in the last few weeks. Among those in the list are former Biju Janata Dal leader Bhartruhari Mahtab, former Congress leaders Preneet Kaur and Ravneet Bittu and Aam Aadmi Party’s former MP Sushil Kumar Rinku.

The party has also fielded former Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu and former IPS officer Debashish Dhar. Mahtab, who had left the party and joined the BJP this week has been fielded from the Cuttack seat, from where he had won for five consecutive terms from a BJD ticket.

Preneet, wife of former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, has been fielded from Patiala, and Ravneet Bittu, who was considered an aide of the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is the BJP’s Ludhiana candidate. Both the leaders had won on the Congress ticket in 2019.

Former Indian ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu has been fielded from Amritsar, replacing actor Sunny Deol whose Parliament record was a matter of much debate.

Rinku has been fielded from Jalandhar, a reserved seat from where he had won in 2023, after then-sitting MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary died of a heart attack while taking part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2023.

The BJP has also fielded singer Hans Raj Hans from the Faridkot reserved seat, moving him from Delhi where he was the MP from the North West Delhi seat. Barring actor Manoj Tiwari, the party has changed all its faces from Delhi. In the North West seat, the party fielded councillor Yogender Chandolia.

The party has also fielded former IPS officer Debashish Dhar from the Birbhum seat; Dhar has recently resigned on March 20 citing “personal” reasons.

In 2021, during the state assembly elections, Dhar was suspended by the West Bengal government from the post of superintendent of police in Cooch Behar after firing by central forces lead to the death of four people.