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Aiming to retain power at the Centre for the third time in a row, the Bharatiya Janata Party while banking heavily on its sitting MPs on Saturday released the first list of 51 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections.
The notable names in the first list include Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Hema Malini from Mathura, Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri, Smriti Irani from Amethi, Lallo Singh from Faizabad (Ayodhya) and Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli among others.
The new faces in the BJP list include Saket Mishra from Shrawasti, Kripa Shankar Singh from Jaunpur and Ritesh Pandey from Ambedkarnagar.
Saket Mishra, who is the sitting MLC, is the son of Nripendra Mishra, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Construction Committee Chairman chairman and former principal secretary to Prime Minister Modi.
Kripa Shankar had quit the Congress to join the BJP and Pandey, sitting Bahujan Samaj Party MP, had recently switched sides.
The candidates for Pilibhit and Sultanpur, which are held by Varun Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi respectively, are yet to be announced.
Prime Minister Modi will be seeking re-election from Varanasi for the third time, winning the earlier two elections in 2014 and 2019 from the same seat with a handsome margin of over 3.71 lakh and 4.79 lakh votes.
Rajnath Singh will also be seeking re-election from Lucknow for the third time after winning it in two previous elections in 2014 and 2019 comfortably by a margin of 2.72 lakh and 3.47 votes respectively.
Hema Malini has again been fielded from Mathura from where she had won two consecutive terms in 2014 and 2019 on a BJP ticket. Before that, she was a member of the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP has again reposed faith in Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri.
Mishra had been in the thick of storm in connection with October 3, 2021 violence in which his son Ashish Mishra allegedly ran his car over the farmers protesting in Lakhimpur Kheri.
Mishra won the Lok Sabha elections from Kheri constituency in 2014 and 2019 for the party.
The BJP has also reposed faith in Smriti Irani for the Amethi seat regarded as a Gandhi stronghold.
Irani had rendered a major blow to the Congress, defeating its sitting MP Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 elections by a margin of over 55,000 votes.
The Amethi Lok Sabha seat had remained faithful to the Congress and the Gandhi family.
Rahul Gandhi himself representing it thrice and before him his mother Sonia Gandhi used to contest from this seat.
Lallo Singh has been fielded from Faizabad (Ayodhya) which he had won both in 2014 and 2019.
The list includes a total of five women candidates, including Rekha Verma from Dhaurahra, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti from Fatehpur, Neelam Sonkar from Lalganj (SC) besides Hema Malini and Smriti Irani.