Lok Sabha polls 2024: Gautam Gambhir, Hans Raj Hans, Gopal Shetty among 30 BJP MPs dropped in second list. Details here

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has replaced 63 sitting MPs with new faces in its first two lists of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The first list of 195 candidates, released on March 2, included 33 new faces in place of MPs such as Pragya Thakur, Ramesh Bidhuri, and Meenakshi Lekhi.

The second list, released on March 13, replaced 30 MPs, including Union Minister Darshana Jardosh. In Delhi, six of the seven sitting MPs have been replaced, with only Manoj Tiwari retained.

Gautam Gambhir, the sitting MP from East Delhi, has been replaced by Harsh Malhotra. Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans has been replaced by Yogendra Chandolia from the North West Delhi seat.

The party has thus far announced 267 candidates. The second list also included 20 candidates each from Karnataka and Maharashtra, seven from Gujarat, six each from Haryana and Telangana, five from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, and one each from Tripura and Dadar and Nagar Haveli.

In Karnataka, Yaduveer Krishnadutta Chamaraja of the Mysuru Royal Family is being fielded from Mysuru. The BJP has been dropped sitting MP Pratap Simha. Captain Brijesh Chowta has been fielded from Dakshina Kannada instead of Former BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel. 

The saffron party shifted its MP Shobha Karandlaje from Udupi-Chikkkamangaluru to Bengaluru North constituency. In her previous constituency, she has been replaced by former minister Kota Srinivas Poojary.

The Davangere constituency has been given to Gayatri Siddheshwara instead of her husband G Siddheshwara. The BJP has not named candidates for Belgavi, Uttara Kannada, Chikballapura, Chitradurga, Mandya, Hassan and Raichur constituencies.

In Maharashtra, the BJP has dropped 6 sitting MPs including Gopal Shetty from Mumbai North and Manoj Kotak from Mumbai North East. While Piyush Goyal will contest his first Lok Sabha election from Mumbai North, Mihir Kotecha has been fielded from Mumbai North East. 

For Beed, two-time MP Pritam Munde has been replaced with her sister Pankaja Munde. Both Pankaja and Pritam are daughters of former Union minister and BJP leader late Gopinath Munde.

Sitting MP of Tripura East Rebati Tripura has been replaced by Maharani Kriti Singh Debbarma, the founder of the Tipra Motha party Pradyot Debbarma. Tipra Motha party joined the BJP-led government in the northeastern state earlier this month. 

The changes are reportedly aimed at countering anti-incumbency, with the party's Central Election Committee selecting candidates based on ground feedback. The BJP aims to win 370 seats on its own and 400 for the National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha 2024 polls.