BJP puts out first list, names party heavyweights

The first list has the names of Prime Minister Vajpayee and Deputy PM Advani. It was finalised at the CEC meeting headed by BJP president Venkaiah Naidu this morning.

‘‘In the first list of 136 candidates, 83 sitting MPs have been renominated. There are 12 women candidates, 19 SC candidates and 13 ST candidates,’’ Mahajan said.

Candidates for 54 Lok Sabha seats in UP were declared, which included Vajpayee (Lucknow), Murli Manohar Joshi (Allahabad), Kalyan Singh (Bulandshahr), Vinay Katiyar (Lakhimpur Kheri), Maneka Gandhi (Pilbhit) and Ashok Pradhan (Khurja).

Candidates in 21 Maharashtra seats were also declared. The nominees include Ram Naik (North Mumbai), Jaywantiben Mehta (South Mumbai), Kirit Somaiyya (North-East Mumbai) and Pradeep Rawat (Pune). Candidates for eight seats in Orissa, six seats each in Delhi and J-K were announced as well.

Film star-turned-politician Vinod Khanna was the only party candidate named from Punjab. He will contest from his constituency Gurdaspur.

Five candidates were finalised from Gujarat, including Advani (Gandhi Nagar), Kashi Ram Rana (Surat) and Harin Pathak (Ahmedabad).

From Bihar, candidates for four seats have been finalised. C.P. Thakur will contest from Patna, Shahnawaz Hussain from Kishanganj and Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Chhapra.

New entrant to the party in Chhattisgarh V.C. Shukla will contest from Mahasamund.

Surface Transport Minister B.C. Khanduri will contest from Garhwal while Bacchi Singh Rawat will contest from Almora.