Journalism of Courage
Superstar Sunny Deol who joined BJP on April 23 was announced as the candidate for the saffron party from Gurudaspur. The seat is currently with the Congress which won the by-election, the seat was earlier represented by late Vinod Khanna of BJP.
The Congress announced former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the Lok Sabha Candidate from Sonipat. Sonipat was part of the epicentre of February 2016 Jat quota agitation in which over 30 persons were killed. Hooda was CM then and the opposition is likely to rake up the incident in the run up to May 12 polls.
Digvijay had made his foray into the electoral politics in January this year when he contested the bypoll to the Jind Lok Sabha seat. BJP’s Krishan Midha had won the bypoll, but Digvijay had emerged runners up pushing Congress’ stalwart Randeep Singh Surjewala to the third position.
Parliamentarian Dushyant Chautala recently parted ways with his uncle and Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 as an INLD candidate, and is contesting this year’s polls as a nominee of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), the political outfit he founded alongwith father and jailed leader Ajay Chautala after they were expelled from the parent party.
In the first instance of a major political party giving a ticket to someone accused of terrorism, the BJP has fielded Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, key accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, as its Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal. Thakur is currently facing trial under stringent sections of The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in a Mumbai court, and is out on bail.
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi filed her nomination from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh on April 11. Gandhi embarked on a roadshow before filing her papers.She also offered puja at the Congress’s central office in Rae Bareli before starting the roadshow.
Union minister Smriti Irani, who is contesting against Congress president Rahul Gandhi, filed her nomination from Amethi. In her nomination papers, Irani has stated that she completed her senior secondary school examination in 1993, but did not complete her Bachelors in Commerce, leaving it in 1994.
Samajwadi Party candidate and sitting MP Dimple Yadav Saturday filed her nomination papers for the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat in the presence of her husband and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and BSP general secretary Satish Misra. Dimple Yadav, a two-time lawmaker from Kannauj, who has represented the Lok Sabha seat since 2012 when it was vacated by her husband after he became the chief minister, claimed that the victory margin will be "bigger" this time with the SP and the BSP entering into an alliance for the polls.
The Congress on Friday nominated actress Urmila Matondkar from Mumbai North. The actress turned politician declared assests worth Rs 68.28 crore in her election affidavit.
Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday filed his nomination from Kerala’s Wayanad district addition to his Amethi constituency. Rahul also said he was fighting the polls from the south to send a message that India was one.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and MP Supriya Sule on Wednesday filed her nomination papers for the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. Sule, daughter of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, is a two-time MP from the Pawar clan stronghold of Baramati.
BJP Chief Amit Shah filed his nomination papers for his maiden Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar, replacing party veteran LK Advani. Amit Shah was earlier an MLA from Sarkhej seat, which is also a part of the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. The Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat was won by L K Advani six times since 1991, barring the 1996 Lok Sabha polls.
Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav Monday filed his nomination papers from Mainpuri Constituency. The former defence minister, has won the seat four times in the past- 1996, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
