News Brief
Pawan Singh with UP CM Yogi Adityanath
Bhojpuri star Pawan Singh has denied contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Asansol in West Bengal, a day after BJP announced his name in its first list of candidates on Saturday (2 March).
Expressing gratitude to the BJP leadership, Singh posted on X, "The party trusted me and declared me as the candidate from Asansol but due to some reason I will not be able to contest the elections from Asansol."
Singh had even made two posts on X, one thanking the BJP for nominating him and the other accusing the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of not implementing the Narendra Modi government's schemes.
The Asansol seat was won by Babul Supriyo on the BJP ticket in 2014 and 2019 and by Shatrughan Singh in the 2022 by-polls on the TMC ticket. This time Sinha was expected to be Pawan Singh's rival.