Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Manohar Lal Khattar and Anurag Thakur were the four names that stood out of the list of 72 candidates the BJP announced on Wednesday for the Lok Sabha election 2024. Former Union ministers Sadananda Gowda and Ramesh Pokhriyal also stood out in their absence as Gowda’s Bangalore North went to Union minister of state Shobha Karandlaje and Pokhriyal’s Haridwar went to Trivendra Singh Rawat. Sadananda Gowda announced his retirement from electoral politics last year.

Mysuru’s 31-year-old ‘king’ Yaduveer Wadiyar was also a surprise entry in the list replacing Pratap Simha.

BJP 2nd list of candidates: Here are top 10 major takeaways

1. Three former CMs: Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), Basavaraj Bommai (Karnataka) and Trivendra Singh Rawat are the three former chief ministers named in the 2nd list. Khattar will be contesting from Karnal, Bommai from Haveri and Rawat from Hardwar.

2. Big names in Maharashtra: Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur) and Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North) are the major candidates fielded from Maharashtra where BJP will be contesting the election in alliance with Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP.

3. Piyush Goyal’s first Lok Sabha election: Union minister Piyush Goyal will be fighting his first Lok Sabha from Mumbai North in 2024. As of now, Piyush Goyal is a Rajya Sabha member. “My heartfelt gratitude to the BJP State President Shri @CBawankule ji and Mumbai President Shri @ShelarAshish ji for reposing their faith in me, on behalf of the world’s largest political party BJP and nominating me as the Lok Sabha candidate from Mumbai North. Received blessings from my friend & colleague, Shri @iGopalShetty ji, who assured me of his continuous support for the development & upliftment of North Mumbai,” Piyush Goyal tweeted.

4. Who is Harsh Malhotra who replaces Gautam Gambhir? Former mayor of the erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation Harsh Malhotra will be contesting from East Delhi Lok Sabha after Gautam Gambhir announced to quit politics.

5. Khattar in Karnal: Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday resigned from the post of Haryana chief minister making way for a new Cabinet. On Wednesday, he announced his resignation as Karnal MLA. “From today, our chief minister will look after the Karnal assembly constituency,” he said hours before his name was announced in BJP’s 2nd list of candidates for Lok Sabha election 2024.

6. Heavyweights in Karnataka: Union minister Pralhad Joshi will be fighting from Dharwad, former chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra will be contesting from Shimoga. Bengaluru South sitting MP Tejasvi Surya will fight from his Bengaluru South seat while Yaduveer Krishnadatta Wadiyar will be replacing Pratap Simha in Mysore.

Former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s name from Haveri was also a surprise.

7. What happened to Pratap Simha? Hours before the list was announced, Mysuru MP Pratap Simha on social media urged his followers to not protest. While he did not elaborate on anything, it became clear after Yaduveer Krishnadatta Wadiyar of the erstwhile Mysore royal family was declared the candidate for the seat. Pratap Simha was embroiled in a controversy as he signed the passes of the intruders to Parliament which led to a major security breach.

8. Nalin Kateel also dropped: Former Karnataka BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel has been dropped from Dakshina Kannada in favour of Brijesh Chowta, who has served in the Army.

9. Fomer Union ministers dropped, new joinee Ashok Tanwar fielded from Sirsa: Haryana leader Ashok Tanwar joined the BJP in January from AAP. He replaces sitting MP Sunita Duggal in Sirsa in Haryana. Union ministers Sadananda Gowda and Ramesh Pokhriyal did not find a place in the seats they represented.

10. Pankaja Munde from state to Centre: Late BJP leader Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja Munde will be contesting from Beed, her sister Pritam Munde’s constituency. Of late, she complained of being sidelined in the party.