Popular actors Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil have figured on the latest candidates' list of the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Mr Govil, who played Ram in popular TV serial Ramayan, has been fielded from Meerut Lok Sabha seat while Bollywood actor Ranaut will be contesting from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi - her hometown.
The 37-year-old actor, who is a vocal supporter of the BJP, thanked the party for announcing her as their Lok Sabha candidate from Mandi. Congress leader Pratibha Singh currently represents the constituency.
"My beloved Bharat and Bhartiya Janta's own party, Bharatiya Janta party (BJP) has always had my unconditional support, today the national leadership of BJP has announced me as their Lok Sabha candidate from my birth place Himachal Pradesh, Mandi (constituency) I abide by the high command's decision on contesting Lok Sabha polls," she posted on X.
Ms Ranaut's great-grandfather, Sarju Singh Ranaut, was a Congress MLA.
Both the actors had attended the grand Ram temple event in Ayodhya in January.
Arun Govil recently joined the BJP along with Anuradha Paudwal. He is replacing BJP MP Rajendra Agrawal in the Meerut contest. Mr Agarwal had been elected as a Member of Parliament from the Meerut-Hapur constituency three times since 2009.
The BJP, which has been holding a series of election meetings, named 111 more candidates for the Lok Sabha polls this evening. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan will contest from Sambalpur and the party's spokesperson Sambit Patra from Puri once again after losing out in a close contest in 2019. Big names like Union ministers Ashwini Kumar Choubey and VK Singh, and MP Varun Gandhi have been dropped.
Earlier in the day, VK Singh announced that he won't contest the Lok Sabha polls.
Maneka Gandhi has been fielded from Sultanpur, while Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada has replaced Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit. Sita Soren, who recently switched from the JMM to BJP, will fight from Dumka (Jharkhand).
The party has also dropped ex Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde from Uttara Kannada constituency.
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