New Delhi:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is mulling to field Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from Ahmedabad (East) constituency in the Lok Sabha elections 2019, sources said. Actor Paresh Rawal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the sitting member of Parliament from Ahmedabad (East) Lok Sabha seat. Paresh Rawal won against HS Patel of the Congress in the last Lok Sabha election of 2014. Before that, BJP’s Harin Pathak held the seat.
In May 2016, Sitharaman was one of the 12 candidates nominated by the BJP to contest the Rajya Sabha elections held in 2016. She successfully contested her seat from Karnataka On September 3, 2017, she was appointed as Defence Minister -- only the second woman after Indira Gandhi to hold post.
The BJP on Tuesday declared two more candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat, taking the total number of its nominees to 25 in the state. In its latest list, the ruling party dropped its current MP from Mehsana, but retained the sitting Lok Sabha member from Surat.
The saffron outfit has dropped its sitting MPs on nine seats and renominated 16 Members of Parliament, who were elected in 2014.
Ahmedabad East is the only Lok Sabha seat, where the party is yet to declare its candidate. Paresh Rawal has decided not to contest polls this time citing his busy acting schedule.
Among prominent MPs, the party has dropped patriarch L K Advani (91) from the Gandhinagar seat and Union minister Haribhai Chaudhary from Banaskantha.
The BJP has fielded its president Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, a prestigious seat held by Advani since 1991. Shah filed his nomination papers from the Gandhinagar seat last Saturday after taking out a massive rally and road show in the constituency.
The last date of filing nominations for elections in Gujarat is April 4. Polling will be held in Gujarat in a single phase on April 23.
The BJP had won all the 26 seats in 2014 in the home state of Modi and Shah.
