Veteran Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani will not contest the upcoming general elections in India after the Party fielded BJP President Amit Shah from his constituency.
BJP released their full list of 184 candidates for the upcoming general elections on Thursday, where Shah replaced Advani as the candidate from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will re-contest from Varanasi, home minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, former party chief Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur and Smriti Irani from Amethi against Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, the Party announced.
L K Advani has served as India's home minister and deputy Prime Minister of India.
He has the Lok Sabha seat of Gandhinagar in Gujarat six times and has been credited with crafting the BJP's rise in the late 80s, from just two seats in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections.
“It’s not correct to say he has been pushed out, BJP made him party president thrice, and even Deputy PM,” Political Commentator Harshvardhan Tripathi told SBS Hindi.
"In 2009 general elections in India, BJP fought election projecting Mr Advani as its Prime Ministerial candidate, but he failed that time.
“At the age of 91, Advani has a lot more to cheer than most can even dream about,” Mr Tripathi said.
