BJP announces 48 candidates for Lok Sabha election; Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Shripad Naik among key names

New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday announced 48 more candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections including Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar from Madhya Pradesh’s Morena, Shripad Naik from north Goa, and Narendra Keshav Sawaikar from south Goa. [caption id=“attachment_6315951” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  JP Nadda addressing a press conference on Saturday. ANI[/caption] The list was released by the BJP’s Central Election Committee secretary and Union minister Jagat Prakash Nadda at a press conference. Out of 48 candidates, two are from Goa, 15 from Madhya Pradesh, 15 from Gujarat, 10 from Jharkhand, four from Himachal Pradesh and two from Karnataka. BJP MP Janardan Mishra will contest from Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa, while MP Rakesh Singh will contest from Jabalpur. As per the new list of candidates released by the BJP, Anup Mishra has been replaced by Tomar from Morena and Bhagirath Prasad has been replaced by Sandhya Rai from Bhind (SC) in Madhya Pradesh. Himadri Singh has replaced Gyan Singh from Shahdol (ST), Anil Ferojiya has replaced Chintamani Malaviya from Ujjain and Durgadas Uike has replaced Jyoti Dhurve from Betul (ST). The BJP has fielded MP Anurag Thakur from Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur, Suresh Kashyap from Shimla, Kishan Kapoor from Kangra. Among those contesting from Jharkhand ar Sunil Soren from Dumka, Nishikant Dubey from Godda, and Pashupati Nath Singh from Dhanbad. The BJP will support Sumalatha as the independent candidate from Karnataka’s Mandya. The BJP also released its list of six candidates for Legislative Assembly bypolls in Gujarat and Goa. In Goa, the BJP has fielded Dayanand Raghunath Sopte from Mandrem, Joushua Peter Desouza from Mapusa and Subhash Ankush Shirodkar from Siroda. Parsotambhai Sabariya (Dhrangradhra) Raghavjibhai Patel (Jamnagar Rural) and  Javaharabhai Chavda (Manavadar) will contest bypolls in Gujarat. The seven phases of the 17th Lok Sabha elections in the country are slated to begin on 11 April and will go on till 19 May. The counting of votes will take place on 23 May.