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BJP fields Arun Nehru from Rai Bareli

The Bharatiya Janata Party today sprang a suprise by fielding former internal security minister, Arun Nehru, a cousin of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, from the Rai Bareli Lok Sabha constituency of Uttar Pradesh.

The central election committee of the BJP today cleared the second list of 44 candidates taking the number of names cleared so far for the Lok Sabha elections to 183.

Prominent among those who figured in the list include Power and Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Kumaramangalam (Tiruchirapalli), former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Sundarlal Patwa (Hoshangabad), Dr Laxmi Narayan Pandey (Mandsaur), Minister of State for Communications Rabindra Purkayastha (Silchar) and senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member O Rajgopal (Trivandrum).

Of the 44 names cleared, ten are sitting members while the constituencies of four candidates have been changed.

The list includes three women, five SC and five ST and two minority community members.

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