Varanasi for PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah in Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will once again contest from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat and BJP president Amit Shah will replace party's nonagenarian leader LK Advani in Gandhinagar, the BJP said Thursday as the party released its much-awaited first list for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While 88 MPs are re-running, 32 have been replaced with new faces. There are 19 women contestants in the list.

Sources said a senior RSS leader visited Advani at his residence to tell him he would not be given a ticket, citing the 91-year-old's age. There was some hope that his son, Jayant, may contest from the seat. But the option was eventually ruled out, party leaders said.

The list contains the name of 184 candidates in 20 states. Most union ministers have retained the seats they had contested in 2014. Home Minister Rajnath Singh will fight from Lucknow, Road Minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur, and Textiles Minister Smriti Irani will take on Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.