NEW DELHI: BJP has released the preliminary list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek the public mandate from Varanasi this time too. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will contest from Gandhinagar. The 195 candidates announced from 16 states include two former Chief Ministers and 34 Union Ministers. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju will contest from Arunachal West. 28 women are included in the first phase list. 47 youths have made it to the list.
Candidates for all 12 seats in Kerala have been announced. However, candidates from Tamil Nadu were not announced. Rajeev Chandrasekhar will contest from Thiruvananthapuram, while V Muraleedharan will contest in Attingal, Suresh Gopi in Thrissur, Shobha Surendran in Alappuzha, Abdul Salam in Malappuram, ML Ashwini in Kasaragod, MT Ramesh in Kozhikode, Anil Antony in Pathanamthitta, C Krishnakumar in Palakkad, C Raghunath from Kannur, Praful Krishna in Vadakara, and Niveditha Subramaniam will contest in Ponnani constituency.