An Honourable Exit? Why Two BJP MPs Said They Don’t Want To Contest Again

New Delhi: 

In Indian politics, where there is intense competition for tickets from any party that has a chance of winning, sitting MPs declaring that they do not want to contest again is rare. So, when two BJP MPs said – within hours of each other – today that they would like to be “relieved” of their political duties, it took many by surprise.

Sources have told NDTV, however, that the well-oiled election machinery of the BJP, which has conducted extensive surveys and held long deliberations on every Lok Sabha seat, had already decided not to repeat Gautam Gambhir and Jayant Sinha.

While the party has not named a candidate for Mr Gambhir’s constituency of East Delhi in its first list released today, Mr Sinha has not been named as the candidate from his earlier seat of Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.