BJP fields singer Hans Raj Hans from North West Delhi
The BJP on Tuesday replaced its sitting Member of Parliament from North West Delhi, Udit Raj, with singer Hans Raj Hans as the party's candidate for the constituency. The singer has been given the BJP ticket hours before the deadline for filing the nominations. The BJP has announced the list of all seven candidates for the Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi. Here's more.
Hans Raj to contest from North West Delhi constituency
Hans Raj quit Congress to join BJP in 2016
Hans Raj is a well known Punjabi folk and Sufi singer. He had joined the BJP in 2016 after quitting the Congress party. Earlier, he was also a part of the Akali Dal party. Hans Raj will take on Rajesh Lilothia of the Congress and Guggan Singh of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in North West Delhi.
Udit Raj threatened to resign if denied ticket
Udit Raj has been dropped after he threatened to resign if the BJP doesn't give him a ticket. Ahead of the last Lok Sabha elections, in February 2014, Udit Raj had merged his political party, Indian Justice Party, with the BJP and won the North West Delhi seat. In the 2014 elections, the BJP won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.
Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir to contest from East Delhi
Earlier on Monday, the BJP announced that former cricketer Gautam Gambhir will contest from the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency while Meenakshi Lekhi will contest from the New Delhi parliamentary constituency in the ongoing General Elections.
List of four other Lok Sabha candidates from Delhi
On Sunday, BJP released a list of four Lok Sabha candidates for Delhi. The party has retained its sitting MPs with Harsh Vardhan contesting from Chandni Chowk, Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi, Ramesh Bidhuri from South Delhi, and Pravesh Verma from West Delhi. Lok Sabha elections in Delhi will be held on 12 May for all seven seats under the sixth phase.