BJP leader and former actress, Hema Malini will be contesting in the General Elections from Mathura, her current parliamentary constituency.
The BJP released the list of candidates for 184 constituencies across the country on Thursday. While there many unexpected names on the list, Malini’s candidature expected she had revealed earlier this year that she had got the "green signal from higher-ups".
While speaking to the news agency ANI yesterday, she thanked PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for choosing her to contest from Mathura and promised to work hard for the development of the area.
Meanwhile, in the Agra city, UP Minister SP Singh Baghael replaced Ram Shankar Katheria, Chairman of the SC/ST Commission, while in Fatehpur Sikri, Raj Kumar Chahar will be contesting instead of Choudhary Babu Lal.
The BJP's first list of candidates confirmed that the PM will be contesting from his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi while BJP president Amit Shah will fight from his hometown in Gujrat, Gandhinagar.
Meanwhile, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari will be contesting from Lucknow and Nagpur respectively which they both had won from in the last general elections
Also, Union minister Smriti Irani will take on Congress president Rahul Gandhi again for the second time as she will be contesting from Amethi.
The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases beginning April 11th and the votes will be counted on May 23rd.