BJP fields Ravi Kishan from UP's Gorakhpur

The BJP on Saturday announced its first list of 195 candidates, which included PM Modi from Varanasi again.

This is the third time PM Modi will be contesting from the Varanasi seat.

In 2014, he defeated AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and in 2019, won against Samajwadi Party's Shalini Yadav.

"I want to thank the top leadership wholeheartedly... The organization gave me a second chance from the hottest seat after Kashi. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the entire organization and Prime Minister Modi. I will maintain this trust... BJP will win 400 seats and Gorakhpur seat will create history," Ravi Kishan said.

Ravi Kishan, a well-known Bhojpuri actor, will run for office again from Gorakhpur, the stronghold of Yogi Adityanath.

The current Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath held the seat till 2017.

Ravi Kishan won against SP candidate Rambhual Nishad in the 2019 election with a lead of more than 3 lakh votes.

The BJP Saturday released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, days after a marathon meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, naming 34 Union Ministers, including heavyweights such as Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh from their current Gandhinagar and Lucknow seats respectively.