BJP fields Ahluwalia from Asansol, still no sign of DH candidate
In the 10th list for the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated old warhorse Surinderjeet Singh Ahluwalia from the Asansol constituency of Bengal. The original candidate, Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh had removed himself from the contest after controversy arose over his songs denigrating women from Bengal.
Ahluwalia is set to contend against the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) candidate and incumbent MP Shatrughan Sinha.
Today, the BJP revealed a list of nine candidates, among which eight are new additions.
While Pawan Singh later declared his intention to participate in the elections through the social media platform X–“to fulfil the promise made to people,” as he said–he did not disclose any specific constituency or political party.
Notably, the BJP has still not been able to field anyone from AITC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s constituency of Diamond Harbour. While speculations are rife about several leaders, including Shankudeb Panda, Rudranil Ghosh, Abhijit Das and Rajarshi Lahiri, the saffron party is still not confident enough to make anyone contest against Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, who is a two-time MP from the constituency.
