The BJP on Thursday released its first list of 184 candidates for 20 States for the Lok Sabha election, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi slated to fight from his seat of Varanasi, and party president Amit Shah also throwing his hat in the ring from Gandhinagar, represented six times by former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.
The party retained most sitting MPs, the biggest drop in Uttar Pradesh with six candidates replaced in a list of 21. In all 24 sitting MPs have been dropped.
Union Minister for Health J.P. Nadda released the list in the evening, but refused to comment on Mr. Advani being replaced by Mr. Shah in Gandhinagar.
