BJP fields ex-mayors Harsh, Yogendra

New Delhi: The 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 for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP named 72 more candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, including Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Anurag Singh Thakur, and former chief ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Basavaraj Bommai.

Malhotra replaced cricketer-turned-politician and East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, who earlier this month urged BJP chief JP Nadda to relieve him of political duties ahead of the polls citing his commitments related to cricket. 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. The BJP previously announced its candidates on five of the seven Lok Sabha seats. Except for Manoj Tiwari, two time MP from North East Delhi, the BJP has replaced all its sitting MPs with new names. Tiwari will contest the Lok Sabha polls from North East Delhi seat for the third time in a row. The BJP has fielded all the three general secretaries of Delhi unit in the Lok Sabha polls. Earlier, the lone woman general secretary of Delhi BJP Kamaljeet Sehrawat was declared as the candidate from West Delhi constituency.