In a message directed to BJP President JP Nadda on X (formerly Twitter), Pawan Singh cited personal reasons for his inability to contest the elections.
In a significant blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bhojpuri actor and playback singer Pawan Singh declared on Sunday that he would not be running for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in Asansol, West Bengal. This declaration followed a day after the BJP unveiled its initial list of candidates for the general elections. Singh chose not to disclose the rationale behind his choice.
In a message directed to BJP President JP Nadda on X (formerly Twitter), he conveyed his sincere appreciation to the senior leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Despite the party’s trust in him and his nomination as the Asansol candidate, he regretfully cited personal reasons for his inability to participate in the elections from Asansol.
Pawan Singh, renowned for his Bhojpuri hit “Lollipop Lagelu,” is a celebrated Bhojpuri actor and playback singer from Arrah, Bihar, often referred to as the “power star” of the Bhojpuri film industry.
Following the announcement, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose took a swipe at the BJP regarding Singh’s candidacy and subsequent withdrawal, suggesting that the BJP’s claim of “nari shakti” in Bengal has been exposed as hollow and meaningless due to the backlash against Singh’s alleged sexist and misogynistic videos.
Currently, the TMC has yet to declare its candidate for Asansol, a constituency presently held by Shatrughan Sinha.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, popular singer Babul Supriyo clinched victory on a BJP ticket in this constituency, triumphing over TMC’s Moon Moon Sen. However, two years later, Supriyo resigned from the seat and switched allegiance to the TMC. Consequently, in 2022, Shatrughan Sinha was elected to represent Asansol in the Lok Sabha.
In addition to Singh, the party revealed three other Bhojpuri actors as its candidates: Manoj Tiwari for North-east Delhi, Ravi Kishan for Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Dinesh Lal Yadav, also known as Nirahua, for Azamgarh.
Out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, the BJP unveiled candidates for 20 seats in its initial list.
However, this time, the party opted not to nominate state chief and Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari. Instead, they put forward his younger brother Soumendu Adhikari, a former Trinamool Congress MP from the Tamluk constituency, as the candidate for Contai in East Midnapore. Their father, Sisir Adhikari, currently serves as the MP from that constituency.
The BJP has disclosed a list of 20 candidates for West Bengal as follows:
Nisith Pramanik – Cooch Behar (SC)
Manoj Tigga – Alipurduars (ST)
Dr. Sukanta Majumdar – Balurghat
Khagen Murmu – Maldaha Uttar
Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury – Maldaha Dakshin
Dr. Nirmal Kumar Saha – Baharampur
Shri Gauri Shankar Ghosh – Murshidabad
Jagannath Sarkar – Ranaghat (SC)
Shantanu Thakur – Bangaon (SC)
Dr. Ashok Kandari – Joynagar (SC)
Dr. Anirban Ganguly – Jadavpur
Dr. Rathin Chakraborty – Howrah
Locket Chatterjee – Hooghly
Soumendu Adhikari – Kanthi
Hiranmay Chattopadhyay – Ghatal
Jyotirmay Singh Mahato – Purulia
Dr. Shubash Sarkar – Bankura
Soumitra Khan – Bishnupur
Pawan Singh – Asansol
Priya Saha – Bolpur (SC)
Of the 20 candidates nominated in West Bengal, three are women: Locket Chatterjee, Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury, and Priya Saha.
During his two-day visit to West Bengal on Saturday, PM Modi expressed confidence that the ‘lotus’ (BJP’s symbol) would flourish across all 42 seats in the state. In the 2019 general elections, the BJP aimed to secure victory in 22 seats and ultimately won 18.
The BJP’s initial list comprises 51 seats from Uttar Pradesh, 24 from Madhya Pradesh, 20 from West Bengal, 15 each from Gujarat and Rajasthan, 12 from Kerala, nine from Telangana, 11 each from Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, five from Delhi, three from Uttarakhand, two each from Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, and one each from Goa, Tripura, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as well as Daman and Diu.
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