NEW DELHI — The BJP on Monday announced seven more Lok Sabha candidates for Uttar Pradesh, including Bhojpuri film star Ravi Kishan from the Gorakhpur constituency.
The party also declared sitting MP Praveen Nishad as its candidate from Sant Kabir Nagar by dropping Sharad Tripathi, who had beaten a local BJP MLA with shoes.
Praveen Nishad is the son of Sanjay Nishad, founder of the Nishad Party which is now in alliance with the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
With these names, the party has so far announced candidates for 420 Lok Sabha seats for the seven-phase elections which started on April 11 and will continue till May 19.
Nishad had won the Gorakhpur seat in a bypoll as the SP candidate and he was supported by the BSP, under the grand alliance between the two parties.
The Gorakhpur seat had fallen vacant after BJP MP Yogi Adityanath was elected as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.