BJP candidate from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, Kangana Ranaut arrived in Delhi today afternoon to meet BJP party president JP Nadda. The meeting is likely to discuss on the poll strategy ahead of the elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday nominated Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut as its Lok Sabha candidate from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi. Apart from Ranaut, the BJP finalised 111 candidates in the 5th Lok Sabha candidate list. Other names on the list are Naveen Jindal, Maneka Gandhi, etc.Apart from Kangana Ranaut, Ramayan fame Arun Govil was another popular name from the entertainment industry that was mentioned in the list. Arun Govil will contest the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat.
Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh is the current sitting parliamentarian from Mandi Lok Sabha constituency. Singh won the last Lok Sabha byelection in 2021 from Mandi after the death of BJP's Ram Swaroop who won 2019's general election from Mandi. Recently, Pratibha Singh announced her withdrawal from Lok Sabha elections for the Mandi constituency. In her public statement, Singh said that the ground situation is “not favourable" and workers are disheartened. In addition to Arun Govil, and Kangana Ranaut, several big names were featured in the list. Sitting MP Maneka Gandhi has been retained by the saffron party from Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur. However, her son Varun Gandhi was replaced by the BJP with Jitin Prasada in Pilibhit. Sita Soren will fight general elections from Dumka (Jharkhand). Kerala BJP president K Surendra will contest elections from Wayanad, the seat won by incumbent MP and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.Union ministers R K Singh and Nityanand Rai have also been fielded from their current seats, while in Uttar Pradesh the ruling party named 13 more candidates. The party dropped names like Varun Gandhi, Dharmendra Pradhan, VK Singh, etc from the Lok Sabha candidate list.