BJP's Pawan Singh not to contest from Asansol, opts out

Kolkata: A day after the BJP announced his name as the party's candidate from Asansol Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal, popular Bhojpuri actor-singer Pawan Singh on Sunday announced that he will not be able to contest the upcoming elections.

He made this announcement by posting a message on his official X handle after BJP announced his name as the candidate on Saturday evening.

“I express my heartfelt gratitude to the top leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party. The party trusted me and declared me as the candidate from Asansol. But due to some reasons I will not be able to contest the elections from Asansol,” Singh said in his X message.

He has also tagged BJP’s national president J.P. Nadda in this message.

Asansol has a predominant presence of Hindi- speaking voters mainly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The current sitting Lok Sabha member from the seat is prominent actor of yesteryears, Shatrughan Sinha, who is himself from Bihar and also prefers to be identified as 'Bihari Babu'.