Decoding 2019 Central Elections

Four weeks ahead of the first phase of polling, both national parties have declared most or half of their candidates. The BJP till Sunday afternoon announced 296 candidates, against 218 candidates announced by the Congress. The BJP's first list of candidates is new, including 34 candidates in seats the BJP did not contest in 2014.

Contrary to expectations, only 44 MPs are not re-running, including in five seats given to the JDU as part of the alliance agreement in Bihar and including one seat where no by-election took place after the incumbent, Bhola Singh passed away. A few veterans, such as LK Advani, Bandaru Dattatreya, Karya Munda, and Shanta Kumar, have been left out. The BJP has re-nominated several sitting MPs in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, while most candidates who ran in states where the BJP did not perform in 2014 have been changed.

The Congress, on the other hand, is fielding mostly new faces. It has so far nominated 150 new candidates, including 11 in seats it did not contest in 2014. Only 68 congress candidates who ran in 2014 are contesting, including 22 incumbent MPs. Eight MPs are currently out, including KV Thomas and KC Venugopal in Kerala, and Mausam Noor in West Bengal. The Congress has thoroughly reshuffled its decks in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh.