Lok Sabha polls: BJP drops Varun Gandhi, Maneka retained

Lucknow: The BJP unveiled 13 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, notably featuring Arun Govil, renowned for his role as Lord Ram in the Ramayan TV serial, who will contest from Meerut. The party also made a significant change by replacing Varun Gandhi with UP PWD minister Jitin Prasada in Pilibhit.

Varun Gandhi, who has recently voiced concerns against the BJP on various issues, including employment and health, was not included in the list. However, his mother, Maneka Gandhi, has been retained and will run from the Sultanpur parliamentary constituency.

Atul Garg has been nominated from Ghaziabad, replacing sitting MP and Union Minister V K Singh, who announced his decision not to contest the Lok Sabha elections shortly before the list was released.

Ramesh Awasthi will run from Kanpur Lok Sabha seat, following sitting MP Satyadev Pachauri's expressed reluctance to contest, conveyed to the party's national president J P Nadda.

This marks the second list of candidates from UP released by the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections. The party is yet to declare its candidate for the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat.

In Budaun, the party chose Durvijay Singh Shakya over its current MP Sanghamitra Maurya.

Santosh Gangwar has been replaced by Chattrapal Singh Gangwar in Bareilly, while Raghav Lakhanpal, Sarvesh Singh, and Satish Gautam have been announced as nominees from Saharanpur, Moradabad, and Aligarh seats respectively.

On the reserved seats of Barabanki and Bahraich, the BJP has named Rajrani Rawat and Arvind Gond respectively.

In its first list, the BJP had named its sitting MP Upendra Rawat from Barabanki, who later declined to contest the election following the surfacing of an obscene video allegedly involving him on social media.