Nitin Gadkari from RSS-den Nagpur, Three ex- Chief Ministers -- Manohar Lal Khattar, Bommai and Trivendra Singh Rawat of Uttarkhand make it to BJP's second list

BJP drops Karnataka MP Pratap Simha, who represented Mysore parliamentary constituency.

Ramesh Pokhriyal in Uttarakhand and Karnataka lawmaker  Nalin Kateel also dropped.

Yaduveer Krishnadatta Wadiyar of the erstwhile Mysore royal family has replaced sitting MP Pratap Simha as the BJP candidate from the Mysore seat.

Simha had issued passes to Parliament intruders. Journalist-turned-MP, Pratap Simha has represented Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha twice. Soon after BJP announced its second candidate list, Simha congratulated the Mysore royal scion for making it to the list. "Congratulations to Maharaja Sri. Yaduveer," he wrote.

Narendra Modi's Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has made it to BJP's second list of 72 candidates.

Among others three former chief ministers -- Haryana's Manohar Lal Khattar, Basavaraj Bommai of Karnataka and Trivendra Singh Rawat of Uttarakhand -- have been included in the party's list. The saffron party had released the first list of 195 candidates on March 2. With the new list, altogether 267 candidates have been announced. 

Other prominent names include - Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad), party MP Tejasvi Surya (Bangalore South), Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North) 

Trivendra Singh Rawat will contest from Hardwar while former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has been fielded from Haveri.

Khattar, who was replaced in most recent high-profile change of guard in Haryana, will be now the BJP nominee from Karnal.  

The saffron party's East Delhi candidate will be Harsh Malhotra while Yogendra Chandola will be the party candidate from North West Delhi (SC) reserved seat. 

A day before the BJP's second list was announced, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray asked Nitin Gadkari to leave the BJP if he was being "insulted". Thackeray said the Maha Vikas Aghadi will ensure Gadkari's victory in the Lok Sabha polls.

Gadkari replied saying Uddhav Thackeray's "offer" was "immature and ridiculous".

   

In Gujarat, the BJP has again fielded Ms Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt, who had won the seat in 2019 also. Interestingly, Narendra Modi had contested from the seat in 2014 but later vacated retaining Varanasi. 

From Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, where there was cross voting during recent Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP's nominee from Hamirpur will be Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur. 

Among others, BJP's candidate for Bangalore North will be Ms Shobha Karandlaje.  

In Haryana, former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Ashok Tanwar will contest as the BJP candidate from Sirsa.  

Rao Inderjit Singh Yadav has been pitted from Gurgaon, Minister of State of Heavy Industries Kishan Pal Gurjar from Faridabad.

BJP's list included 20 candidates from Maharashtra- which sends as many as 48 lawmakers -- second highest after UP - to the Lok Sabha.

Pankaja Munde will be BJP nominee from Beed in Maharashtra, MoS Bharati Pravi Pawar will contest from Dindori, Raosaheb Dadarao Danve from Jalna, and Sudhir Mungantiwar from Chandrapur.  

The BJP is expected to face stiff fight in Karnataka this year. 

Mysore MP Pratap Simha, whose name came up during the Parliament security breach incident, has been dropped. He is replaced by Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar of the erstwhile Mysore royal family. 

Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra will contest from Shimoga.

BJP fields former mayors Harsh Malhotra, Yogendar Chandolia from East and North West Delhi LS seats

BJP on Wednesday declared state general secretaries Harsh Malhotra and Yogendra Chandolia as the candidates of East Delhi and North West Delhi (reserved) seats, respectively.

Malhotra replaced cricketer-turned-politician and East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, who earlier this month urged BJP chief JP Nadda to relieve him.

Malhotra is the former mayor of erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Chandolia, a former mayor of North Delhi, was fielded by the BJP dropping outgoing MP from North West Delhi reserved constituency Hans Raj Hans who is a famous Punjabi Sufi singer.

In Karnataka, former CM Bommai getting ticket has upset K S Eshwarappa, who claimed that Basavaraj Bommai was being “forced” to contest from Haveri. 

“Mr. Bommai himself had recommended my son’s name for Haveri. He had refused to contest the seat as he is a sitting MLA and a former Chief Minister. But why he is being forced to contest?”