The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls. The party has fielded Navya Haridas against Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi for the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll.
The party has also released the list of candidates for Assembly bypolls from Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. The party also named 24 candidates for Assembly polls across eight states. Former MP Sunil Soni will contest from the Raipur City South assembly in Chhattisgarh.
Navya Haridas, 39, is a two-time councillor in Kozhikode Corporation and BJP parliamentary party leader in the corporation. She also serves as the state General Secretary of BJP Mahila Morcha.She was the BJP candidate for Kozhikode South constituency in the 2021 Kerala Assembly election, but lost to Congress candidate Ahammad Devarkovil.
The BJP on Saturday released its first list of candidates for the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly election. Former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) turncoats Champai Soren and Sita Soren are among the 66 candidates named by the party.
As per the list, Babulal Marandi will contest polls from Dhanwar seat, while Champai Soren is set to represent Saraikela. Sita Soren has been fielded from Jamtara.
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, once a close aide to JMM chief Hemant Soren, left the party and joined the BJP in August this year. Champai, whose brief 153-day tenure as Chief Minister ended on July 4, said he was “humiliated” on his way out after Hemant Soren resassumed the role of Chief Minister after his release from jail.
Sita Soren, the sister-in-law of Hemand Soren, was expelled from the JMM in May this year for “anti-party activities”. Sita Soren, a three-term MLA, cited “isolation” and “neglect” by the party since the death of her husband Durga Soren in 2009.
Other prominent candidates in the list include Neera Yadav from Koderma, Muniya Devi from Gandey, Tara Devi from Sindri and Apnarna Sengupta from Nirsa. Ragini Singh will represent the party in Jharia, Geeta Balmuchu in Chaibasa, and Pushpa Devi Bhuiyan will contest from Chhatarpur.
