Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Candidates List for West Bengal Lok Sabha General Elections 2024

 

Sr No	Constituency Name	BJP Candidate	Sitting MP/(Winner of 2019)	Party
1	Alipurduars	Manoj Tigga	John Barla	BJP
2	Arambagh		Aparupa Poddar (Afrin Ali)	TMC
3	Asansol		Shatrughan Sinha	TMC
4	Balurghat	Sukanta Majumdar	Sukanta Majumdar	BJP
5	Bankura	Subhas Sarkar	Subhas Sarkar	BJP
6	Barrackpur		Arjun Singh	BJP
7	Bangaon	Shantanu Thakur	Shantanu Thakur	BJP
8	Bardhaman-Durgapur		S. S. Ahluwalia	BJP
9	Bardhaman Purba		Sunil Kumar Mandal	TMC
10	Baharampur	Dr. Nirmal Kumar Saha	Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury	Congress
11	Barasat		Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar	TMC
12	Basirhat		Nusrat Jahan Ruhi	TMC
13	Birbhum		Satabdi Roy	TMC
14	Bishnupur	Saumitra Khan	Saumitra Khan	BJP
15	Bolpur	Priya Saha	Asit Kumar Mal	TMC
16	Cooch Behar	Nisith Pramanik	Nisith Pramanik	BJP
17	Darjeeling		Raju Bista	BJP
18	Diamond Harbour		Abhishek Banerjee	TMC
19	Dum Dum		Sougata Roy	TMC
20	Ghatal	Hiran Chatterjee	Deepak Adhikari (Dev)	TMC
21	Hooghly	Locket Chatterjee	Locket Chatterjee	BJP
22	Howrah	Rathin Chakraborty	Prasun Banerjee	TMC
23	Jalpaiguri		Jayanta Kumar Roy	BJP
24	Jangipur		Khalilur Rahaman	TMC
25	Jadavpur	Anirban Ganguly	Mimi Chakraborty	TMC
26	Jaynagar	Dr. Ashok Kandari	Pratima Mondal	TMC
27	Jhargram		Kunar Hembram	BJP
28	Kolkata Dakshin		Mala Roy	TMC
29	Kolkata Uttar		Sudip Bandyopadhyay	TMC
30	Kanthi	Soumendu Adhikari	Sisir Adhikari	TMC
31	Krishnanagar		Mahua Moitra	TMC
32	Maldaha Dakshin	Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury	Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury	Congress
33	Maldaha Uttar	Khagen Murmu	Khagen Murmu	BJP
34	Mathurapur		Choudhury Mohan Jatua	TMC
35	Medinipur		Dilip Ghosh	BJP
36	Murshidabad	Gouri Shankar Ghosh	Abu Taher Khan	TMC
37	Purulia	Jyotirmay Singh Mahato	Jyotirmay Singh Mahato	BJP
38	Raiganj		Debasree Chaudhuri	BJP
39	Ranaghat	Jagannath Sarkar	Jagannath Sarkar	BJP
40	Serampore		Kalyan Banerjee	TMC
41	Tamluk		Dibyendu Adhikari	TMC
42	Uluberia		Sajda Ahmed	TMC

 

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Candidates List for Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha General Elections 2024

 

Sr No	Constituency Name	BJP Candidate	Sitting MP/(Winner of 2019)	Party
1	Amalapuram		Chinta Anuradha	YSR Congress Party
2	Anakapalli	C.M. Ramesh	Beesetti Venkata Satyavathi	YSR Congress Party
3	Anantapur		Talari Rangaiah	YSR Congress Party
4	Araku	Kothapalli Geetha
5	Bapatla
6	Chittoor
7	Eluru
8	Guntur
9	Hindupur
10	Kadapa
11	Kakinada
12	Kurnool
13	Machilipatnam
14	Nandyal
15	Narasapuram		Raghu Rama Krishna Raju	YSRCP
16	Narasaraopet
17	Nellore
18	Ongole
19	Rajahmundry	Daggubati Purandeswari	Margani Bharat	YSRCP
20	Rajampet	Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy	P. V. Midhun Reddy	YSRCP
21	Srikakulam
22	Tirupati	Varaprasad Rao Velagapalli	Maddila Gurumoorthy	YSRCP
23	Vijayawada
24	Visakhapatnam
25	Vizianagaram

Pawapuri Where the 24th Mahavir Breathed his last

Located in the state of Bihar, Pawapuri has existed as a place of spirituality for many centuries, and remains one of the most sacred sites of Jainism. Pawapuri’s claim to fame lies in being the place where the twenty fourth Tirthankar (Ford-maker) Mahavir breathed his last in 527 BC.

According to a legend, the present tank in Pawapuri came into being as a result of removal of the soil following the great demand for Mahavir’s ashes after his cremation by his devotees.

Today “Jalmandir”, a beautiful temple of white marble in the centre of the tank, is a magnet for devotees and tourists.

 Sights to See

Jal Mandir / Image Credit

 Jalmandir

The focal point of any visit to Pawapuri is the Jalmandir, the pilgrimage destination of the Jaina religion. Located in the middle of a pool, Jalmandir is one of the holiest shrines in Jainism. It is the place where Mahavir was cremated. It is no wonder that the temple is a major pilgrimage destination for Jains from all over the world, as well as an increasingly popular tourist attraction. Pilgrims reach the Jalmandir by a 600 feet long stone bridge that juts out from the shore of the pool.

Samosharan

The well-known Jaina site of Samosharan is deservedly a tourist attraction in Pawapuri not to be missed. The place is home to a beautiful temple of white marble. It’s the place where Mahavira delivered his sermon after getting full enlightenment. Samosharan has long since been a place for religious pilgrimage.

Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjunaswamy Temple, Srisailam

Sri Mallikarjuna Swami and Sri Bhramaramba Devi / Image Source 

Located on the southern banks of the Krishna River in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh,  Srisailam is a sacred destination of top order for the Hindus. 

The place is home to the famous Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjunaswamy Temple, one of the Dwadasa Jyotirlinga shrines in India. What makes Srisailam unique the presence of Goddess Bhramaramba Devi, the consort of Lord Shiva, in the temple. 

The great 8th-century religious leader Adi Shankara, also known as Adi Shankaracharya, is said to have visited this shrine and composed his immortal Sivananda Lahiri here.

Ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur

Guru Tegh Bahadur was the ninth Guru of the Sikh religion. He was beheaded on the orders of the sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb on 24 November 1675 in Delhi.

Born to Guru Hargobind and Mata Nanaki on 1 April 1621 in Amritsar Guru Tegh Bahadur was named Tyaga Mal at birth. Guru Hargobind was the sixth Sikh Guru.

Guru Tegh Bahadur was trained in martial arts, swordsmanship and horse riding. He was married to Gujari in 1633.

Guru Tegh Bahadur travelled far and wide visiting many places in northern India and also Assam and Dhaka, preaching the word of Guru Nanak.

Guru Tegh Bahadur founded the city of Anandpur Sahib in Punjab in 1665.

Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib at Chandni Chowk in Delhi was built in 1783 at the place where he was beheaded.

Guru Tegh Bahadur’s young son Gobind, who was only nine when his father was killed, became the tenth and the last Sikh Guru.

 

Gujarat’s Garba dance Gets UNESCO heritage status

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) has added Gujarat's traditional Garba dance to its 'Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.'

The inclusion of Garba now makes it India’s 15th inscription on the List.

India had nominated Garba for inclusion in the list. Garba is performed across Gujarat and in many other parts of the country for nine days during the festival of Navaratri . The festival is dedicated to the worship of the feminine energy or Shakti. 

The inclusion was made under the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage during the 18th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on Tuesday. The meeting is taking place began in Kasane, Botswana from 5 to 9 December 2023.

Apart from ‘Garba of Gujarat,’ some of the new inscriptions include Rickshaws and Rickshaw painting in Dhaka from Bangladesh, Songkran in Thailand, traditional Thai New Year festival from Thailand, Hiragasy, a performing art of the Central Highlands of Madagascar, Junkanoo from the Bahamas, and the Procession and celebrations of Prophet Mohammed's birthday in Sudan, among others. 

India now has 15 intangible cultural heritage elements on the UNESCO list. UNESCO has added Kolkata's Durga Puja to its 'Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. in 2021.  Other Indian entries that were previously inscribed include Ramlila (2008), Yoga (2016) and Kumbh Mela (2017).

In 2017, the Kumbh Mela was accorded this recognition. Yoga was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2016, traditional brass and copper craft of Punjab in 2014, Manipur's Sankirtana ritual singing in 2013 and the dance forms of Chhau, Kalbelia and Mudiyettu in 2010.

525th birth anniversary of Mirabai, Great Vaishnavite Saint and Poetess

This year the 525th birth anniversary of Sant Mirabai is being celebrated. Mirabai (also spelt as Meerabai) was a Rajput princess who was one of the greatest saints of the Krishna cult of Vaishnavism in 16th century India. 

Mirabai was the only child of Ratna Singh Rathor of Merta in Rajasthan.  She was born at the village of Kudki (now in the Pali district) in AD 1498. In 1516, she was married to Bhoraj, eldest son of Rana Sanga, the ruler of Mewar with its capital at Chittor. Bhoraj was heir-apparent to Mewar but he died in 1526.  

Mirabai was highly religious from her childhood. Like her grandfather Dudaji and father she was a devotee of Krishna. After her husband’s death she completely addressed herself to the devotion of Krishna. She patronized learned men. Devotees who were drawn from both sexes making a beeline to Mirabai. Consequently, her fame spread far and wide.

However, Mirabai’s religious activities were resented by her in-laws who took exception to the fact that a royal princess would sing and dance before the image of Krishna in full glare of the public. Her choice of Raidas, a leather worker as her spiritual guru, did not go down well with them. Tradition has it that in-laws tried to poison her. As her relation with the Mewar rulers took a turn for the worse, she went to Merta to live with her uncle Biram Deva.

However, when Mal Deva (Maldeo) of Jodhpur seized Merta, Mira undertook a pilgrimage to the sacred city of Dwarka in Gujarat and spent rest of her life as a devotee of Krishna. She died in 1546. 

Mira’s greatness and popularity rest on her many devotional poems and lyrics. She wrote her works in Brajbhasha and partly in Rajasthani. She also wrote some of her verses in Gujarati.