Madhya Pradesh: BJP releases first list of 24 candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha elections; former CM Chouhan to contest from Vidisha

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], March 2 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its first list of 195 candidates, including 24 candidates from Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan will contest from Vidisha constituency while Union Ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Virendra Khatik and Faggan Singh Kulaste will contest from Guna, Tikamgarh (SC) and Mandla (ST) constituencies respectively.
Former CM Chouhan's wife welcomed him home by putting a 'Tilak' on his forehead after the announcement of his candidature in the Lok Sabha elections, in the state capital Bhopal.

Chouhan told ANI, "National reconstruction is the mission of the BJP and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country is experiencing amazing and unprecedented development. History has been created in public welfare works. We all are workers of the National Reconstruction Mission. Whatever work the party considers appropriate, it is given to the party workers. The party has decided to let workers like us contest the elections. I am grateful to the central leadership. Once again I have got the privilege to serve the public."
It is a very balanced list of candidates, in which youth, women, and others have been given a chance to work, Chouhan further said.
Meanwhile, Chouhan also extended congratulations to Union Minister Scidia on announcement of his candidature in Lok Sabha elections from Guna constituency.
With this, the party has replaced ten candidates in its first list which include Morena, Gwalior, Sagar, Sidhi, Jabalpur, Hoshangabad, Vidisha, Bhopal, Ratlam and Guna Lok Sabha constituencies.
Out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the saffron party announced 24 candidates which are mentioned below.
Morena - Shivmangal Singh Tomar
Bhind (SC) - Sandhya Rai
Gwalior - Bharat Singh Kushwaha
Guna - Jyotiraditya Scindia
Sagar - Lata Wankhede
Tikamgarh (SC)- Virendra Khatik
Damoh - Rahul Lodhi
Khajuraho - V D Sharma
Satna - Ganesh Singh
Rewa - Janardan Mishra
Shahdol (ST)- Himadri Singh
Jabalpur - Ashish Dubey
Mandla (ST)- Faggan Singh Kulaste
Hoshangabad - Darshan Singh Chaudhary
Vidisha - Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Bhopal - Alok Sharma
Rajgarh - Rodmal Nagar
Dewas (SC) - Mahendra Solanki
Mandsaur - Sudhir Gupta
Ratlam (ST) - Anita Chouhan
Khargone (ST) - Gajendra Patel
Khandwa - Dnyaneshwar Patil
Betul (ST) - Durgadas Uike
The five Lok Sabha seat on which condidates are yet to annouced include Chhindwara, Balaghat, Ujjain, Indore and Dhar.
Of 195 candidates, 34 are Ministers from Centre and States while two are former Chief Ministers who are in the list.
While announcing the first list, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde said, "The names of 195 candidates have been finalised. The list includes 47 youth candidates, 28 women candidates, 27 Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, 18 Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates and 57 OBC/Backward Class candidates. The party has announced the list keeping all communities in focus." (ANI)