BJP announces 3 more LS candidates for Gujarat; Union minister among 3 MPs benched

Press Trust of India  |  Ahmedabad/New Delhi 

The Wednesday announced three more candidates for Gujarat, dropping a and two other sitting MPs and bringing in fresh faces.

The party has denied tickets to its veterans, including Murli Manohar Joshi, L K Advani, Shanta Kumar, B C Khanduri and Kalraj Mishra, apparently on the grounds of their age and grooming younger leaders in their place.

The has so far announced candidates for 19 out of 26 constituencies in The state will go to polls on April 23, in the third phase of the April-May

It has dropped Union of State for Coal and Mines Haribhai Chaudhary, who is an from Banaskantha in north Gujarat, along with Porbandar and Prabhatsinh Chauhan, from Panchmahal in south

In Banaskantha, the BJP's nominee is Parbat Patel, of State for Water Supply in the government.

worker has been given the ticket from Porbandar.

Ratan Singh, who was elected as independent MLA from Lunawada in 2017 and later joined the BJP, has been fielded from Panchmahal.

The party has denied tickets to five sitting MPs in Gujarat, including L K Advani from Gandhinagar and Devji Fatehpara from Surendranagar.

said the candidates were selected after a due process.

"is not keeping well, while Prabhatsinh's age was a factor," Vaghani said.

Amit Shah, currently a member, will be contesting from Gandhinagar. The party has repeated 14 MPs in Gujarat as per the ticket announcements so far.

Asked if he was unhappy with the decision to deny him ticket, Haribhai Chaudhary said, "The party has given me many opportunities. I have been MP four times, I have been a minister in the central government. I will work hard to make BJP candidate win from here."

The has so far declared six candidates in the state.

Notification for elections in the third phase (April 23) will be issued by the on Thursday after which candidates can file nomination forms.

The last date for filing of nominations in Gujarat is April 4.

In 2014, the BJP had won all the 26 seats in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Wed, March 27 2019. 20:20 IST