Bypolls: BJP announces candidates for three Lok Sabha, 16 assembly seats

The BJP on Thursday announced candidates for bypolls to three Lok Sabha seats and 16 assembly seats across different states.

After due diligence, the party has given tickets to first-timers, outsiders and OBCs depending on the equation in the different parliamentary and assembly seats. From the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, BJP has fielded Kargil war hero Brigadier Khushal Thakur. Thakur was a ticket aspirant during the 2019 Lok Sabha election too. But the party had given the ticket to Ram Swaroop Sharma. The seat got vacant after his death and now Thakur has been given a chance. He will contest against Congress candidate Pratibha Virbhadra Singh.From Khandwa Lok Sabha seat in MP, the BJP has fielded an OBC candidate after a long time.

The seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MP Nand Kumar Chauhan and the party has fielded Gyaneshwar Patel this time. OBCs account for 26% of the votes in the constituency and fielding an OBC candidate is part of the BJP's overall strategy of wooing the community which forms 52% of the state's electorate.