The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released its first list of candidates today, Saturday (March 2), in preparation for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Once again, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest the elections from Varanasi. The BJP has announced candidates for 195 seats across 16 states and two union territories.

From Uttar Pradesh, there are 51 candidates, 20 from West Bengal, 24 from Madhya Pradesh, 15 from Gujarat, 15 from Rajasthan, 12 from Kerala, 9 from Telangana, 11 each from Assam, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh, 5 from Delhi, 2 from Jammu and Kashmir, 3 from Uttarakhand, 2 from Arunachal Pradesh, and one each from Daman and Diu, Goa, Tripura, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Apart from PM Modi contesting from Varanasi, other notable candidates include Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna, Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha, Alok Sharma from Bhopal, V.D. Sharma from Khajuraho, Arjun Ram Meghwal from Bikaner, Bhupendra Yadav from Alwar, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat from Jodhpur, Kailash Choudhary from Barmer, Om Birla from Kota, Hema Malini from Mathura, Ravi Kishan from Gorakhpur and Kiren Rijiju from Arunachal West.

BJP Secretary General Vinod Tawde addressed a press conference at the party headquarters regarding the meeting of the Central Election Committee held on February 29. He stated that out of the 195 candidates, 28 are women. Among them, there are 47 young candidates, 27 from scheduled castes, 18 from scheduled tribes, and 57 from backward classes.

During the meeting of the Central Election Committee, discussions were held regarding the selection of candidates. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President JP Nadda, along with Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states.