Asansol candidate Pawan Singh claims he is unable to run for Lok Sabha elections on the BJP’s first list

Pawan Singh, a playback singer and Bhojpuri actor, said on Sunday that he would not run for the Lok Sabha elections from West Bengal’s Asansol, a severe blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A day after the BJP unveiled its first slate of candidates for the upcoming elections, the announcement was made. But he remained silent on the rationale for his choice.

He informed JP Nadda, the head of the BJP, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that he would not be able to run in the elections for an unspecified reason.

“I extend my sincere appreciation to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s upper echelon. He remarked, “I will not be able to contest the elections from Asansol due to some reason, but the party trusted me and declared me the candidate from Asansol.”

The party unveiled its much-expected first roster of 195 contenders for the next legislative elections on Saturday.

Renowned Bhojpuri actor and playback singer Pawan Singh is well-known for his role in the hit song Lollipop Lagelu.

Fans refer to Pawan Singh, who is from Arrah in Bihar, as the “power star” of the Bhojpuri film business.

Following the declaration, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose criticized the BJP for Singh’s candidacy and his denial, stating that Bengal’s “nari shakti” cry is now in ruins and has been exposed for what it is: empty and useless.

“Amazing news: the effect of @AITCofficial and @BJP4India The Asansol candidate has withdrawn due to a significant outcry to their misogynistic and sexist videos. The “nari shakti” appeal made by the @BJP4India in Bengal is now in ruins, having been exposed for what it is: empty and pointless, the woman said in a post on X.

Shatrughan Sinha is presently the representative for Asansol; the TMC has not yet declared who would run for the seat.

Famous musician Babul Supriyo defeated TMC’s Moon Moon Sen to win this seat on a BJP ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He left the position after two years and joined the TMC. Sinha was chosen from Asansol to serve in the Lok Sabha in 2022.

In addition to Singh, the party has declared three additional Bhojpuri actors as its candidates: Dinesh Lal Yadav, well known as Nirahua, from Azamgarh, Ravi Kishan from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Manoj Tiwari from Northeast Delhi.

In its first list, the BJP declared candidates for 20 of West Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.

However, this time, the party declined to provide a ticket to Nandigram MLA and state president Suvendu Adhikari. Instead, his younger brother Soumendu Adhikari, a former Tamluk district MP for the Trinamool Congress, from Contai in East Midnapore, was nominated. Sisir Adhikari, their father, is the seat’s current MP.

The list of the 20 declared candidates for West Bengal is as follows:
Pramanik Nisith – Cooch Behar (SC)

Alipurduars – Manoj Tigga (ST)

Balurghat – Dr. Sukanta Majumdar,

Murmu Khagen – Maldaha Uttar

Chowdhury, Sreerupa Mitra – Maldaha Dakshin

Baharampur, Dr. Nirmal Kumar Saha

Murshidabad’s Shri Gauri Shankar Ghosh

Ranaghat (SC) – Jagannath Sarkar

Bangaon (SC) – Shantanu Thakur

Joynagar, South Carolina’s Dr. Ashok Kandari

Jadavpur’s Dr. Anirban Ganguly

Howrah’s Dr. Rathin Chakraborty

Hooghly’s Locket Chatterjee

Kanthi – Soumendu Adhikari

Ghatal’s Hiranmay Chattopadhyay

Purulia’s Jyotirmay Singh Mahato

Bankura – Dr. Shubash Sarkar

Bishnupur’s Soumitra Khan

Asansol’s Pawan Singh

Bolpur, Saha Priya (SC)

Three women are running for office in West Bengal: Locket Chatterjee, Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury, and Priya Saha.

Go here to read: The BJP nominates Pawan Singh from Asansol and Soumendu Adhikari from Contai for Bengal.

While on a two-day visit to West Bengal, Prime Minister Modi said on Saturday that the BJP’s emblem, the “lotus,” will blossom in each of the state’s 42 seats. The BJP achieved 18 of the 22 seats it had targeted in the 2019 general elections.

Of the 51 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 20 in West Bengal, 15 in Gujarat and Rajasthan, 12 in Kerala, 9 in Telangana, 11 in Assam, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, 2 in Arunachal Pradesh, 2 in Jammu and Kashmir, and 1 in each of Goa, Tripura, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Daman and Diu are included in the BJP’s first list.