After Gambhir, Jayant Sinha announces exit from Lok Sabha polls

After Gautam Gambhir, BJP MP Jayant Sinha has asked the party to relieve him of election duties, indicating that he won't be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The announcement came hours after Indian cricketer Gambhi announced his exit from his electoral duties. Sinha contested from Jharkhand's Hazaribagh in 2019, and was re-elected with a record majority.

"I have requested Honourable Party President JP Nadda to relieve me of my direct electoral duties so that I can focus my efforts on combating global climate change in Bharat and around the world. Of course, I will continue to work with the party on economic and governance issues.," Sinha, a former union minister, said on social media X.

It came hours before the BJP is expected to release its first list of candidates for the general elections.

The BJP is said to be contemplating giving tickets to several new leaders and some other sitting MPs also are understood to have told the party that they would like to focus on other organisational work.

Earlier in the day, BJP's East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir also said he said asked the party to relieve him from political duties so that he can focus on his upcoming cricket commitments.

"I have requested Hon'ble Party President JP Nadda ji to relieve me of my political duties so that I can focus on my upcoming cricket commitments. I sincerely thank Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi for giving me the opportunity to serve the people. Jai Hind," Gambhir said on X.

Also read | BJP MP Gautam Gambhir to quit politics to focus on cricket