Lok Sabha polls: Bollywood veteran BJP fields Vinod Khanna in Punjab

NEW DELHI: Bollywood veteran Vinod Khanna will contest the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat in Punjab, BJP announced as it released a list of nine more candidates tonight.

Khanna will take on Punjab Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa who had defeated him in the last election in 2009 by a narrow margin.

BJP has fielded Ram Swaroop Sharma for Mandi parliamentary seat in Himachal Pradesh where he will take on Congress's Pratibha Singh, the sitting MP and wife of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

The party also declared candidates for three seats in Uttar Pradesh where Keshav Mourya will contest from Phulpur Lok Sabha seat, Sharad Tripathi from Sant Kabir Nagar and Rajesh Diwakar from Hathras (SC) seat.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the party has fielded Arif Majeed Pampori from Srinagar seat.

In Odisha, BJP has fielded Sarat Dash from Bhadrak (SC) seat and Amiya Mallick from Jajpur (SC) seat.

In Sikkim, the party has fielded N B Khatiwada.