With just a few weeks remaining for the 2019 general elections, political parties have changed gears to match the pace of their opponents. Debates and discussions over probable candidates have taken the front seat, with parties trying to decide as early and as diligently as they can. Ineffective distribution of tickets by the parties, in the past has seen the parties suffering electoral losses even to the scales of losing power as the ruling party.
BJP is likely to release its first list of Lok Sabha candidates by today’s evening, after the meeting of the party’s’ Central Election Committee (CEC) took place in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the CEC meeting to shortlist candidates for 11 states.
What didn’t come as a surprise to many were the reports on BJP being likely to drop Patna Sahib lawmaker Shatrughan Sinha from the list of candidates for the ensuing general elections. Union Minister and Rajya Sabha member Ravi Shankar Prasad is likely to be the party candidate from the Patna Sahib constituency. Apart from being the member of Lok Sabha (2009–2014, 2014–2019) and Rajya Sabha for two times, Shatrughan Sinha was also Union Cabinet Minister of Health and Family Welfare (Jan 2003 – May 2004) and Shipping (Aug. 2004) in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The name of Rajya Sabha MP R K Sinha was also discussed for the candidature from the Patna Sahib seat.
The actor turned politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is popularly known as ‘shotgun’ won the election in 2014 on a BJP ticket however after being denied a cabinet post, friction developed between him and the party leadership. Since then Shatrughan Sinha has been critical of the government and specifically the Prime Minister. Continuous attack on the party leadership has led to a certain decline in Shatrughan Sinha’s popularity among BJP’s party cadre.
BJP President Amit Shah, Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Kiren Rijiju were also present at the CEC meeting which lasted for more than 8 hours. The meeting was also attended by other senior leaders, Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi and party’s Bihar unit chief Nityanand Rai.
Going ahead with the seat-sharing formula decided with its alliance partner Janata Dal (United) and Lok Jan Shakti Party in Bihar, BJP has kept 17 seats for itself. Union ministers from Bihar are expected to fight from their current constituencies except for MP Girraj Singh who will be contesting from Begusarai instead of Nawada, which has gone to BJP’s alliance partner as part of their seat-sharing arrangement in the state.
Speculations over the actor turned politician contesting against Narendra Modi in Varanasi on an SP ticket are also floating. Sinha along with Yashwant Sinha arrived in Lucknow to attend a program organized by Samajwadi Party to mark the birth anniversary of Jai Prakash Narayan. Both leaders shared the stage with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The Lok Sabha polls will begin on April 11 and continue for over a month till May 19 across seven phases, followed by counting of votes on May 23.
