Nearly two weeks after, sitting Gorakhpur Samajwadi Party MP Praveen Nishad, whose father Sanjay Nishad is the head of the Nishad Party, joined the BJP, the saffron party has announced its candidate from the prestigious Lok Sabha seat represented by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for four terms.
However, contrary to speculation, the BJP has not fielded Praveen Nishad but has instead gone with popular Bhojpuri and Hindi film actor Ravi Kishan.
The Bhojpuri actor, who has also earned a reputation for his roles in Bollywood films, is from Jaunpur, some 170 kilometer from Gorakhpur. He had contested from Jaunpur Lok Sabha constituency on a Congress ticket in 2014 but lost to BJP's KP Singh.
BJP MP from Sant Kabir Nagar Sharad Tripathi, who became a centre of memes and jokes after his video hitting his party's MLA had gone viral, has been denied ticket. The party has instead, fielded Praveen Nishad from there.
Nishad had won the Gorakhpur seat in a bypoll as the SP candidate and he was supported by the BSP, under the grand alliance between the two parties. The Gorakhpur seat had fallen vacant after BJP MP Yogi Adityanath was elected as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
In its list of seven Lok Sabha candidates, all from the Eastern UP, the BJP has denied ticket to three of its sitting MPs.
The BJP has fielded Ramapati Ram Tripathi from Deoria, won by Kalraj Mishra in 2014. In Bhadohi, it has nominated Ramesh Bind, denying ticket to sitting MP Virendra Singh.
With these names, the party has so far announced candidates for 420 Lok Sabha seats for the seven-phase elections which started on April 11 and continue till May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
