BJP's Kalraj Mishra decides against contesting 2019 Lok Sabha elections

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, senior BJP leader and Member of Parliament, Kalraj Mishra has announced his decision to not contest elections. Mishra who has been a Member of the Rajya Sabha three times won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Deoria constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

Talking to news agency ANI, Mishra said that he wants to devote time to other responsibilities given to him by the party.

He said, "I will not contest elections this time, I have been given a lot of other responsibilities by the party so my time will be devoted to that."

With a strong backing from the RSS, Mishra served as the Union Cabinet minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, before resigning in September 2017. He also served as a member on the Standing Committee on Defence till August 2018.

In 2014 Lok Sabha election, Mishra won the Deoria constituency seat with 4,96,500 votes defeating BSP's Niyaj Ahmad by a margin of more than 2.65 lakh votes.

Post-2014, most BJP leaders had retired from active politics after reaching the age 75. Mishra, whos is 77, while resigning in 2017 had attributed his resignation to the same factor. "When I completed 75 years, I told the leadership that they can take any decision about me...This time when I offered to resign, the Prime Minister got emotional," Mishra had said after resigning.