THE Bharatiya Janata Party has denied renomination to its two-term sitting MP Poonam Mahajan from the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency and fielded prominent lawyer Ujjwal Nikam -- who served as the Special Public Prosecutor in several high-profile cases, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks -- from the seat. With Nikam’s nomination, the suspense is finally over the BJP’s candidature for the high-profile seat, including those of sitting MP Mahajan, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar, singer Anuradha Paudwal, and actress Madhuri Dixit. Nikam is pitted against Congress nominee Varsha Gaikwad, whose nomination was announced on Thursday. In his first reaction, Nikam said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his colleagues must be credited for India’s elevated global status. Speaking to reporters, Nikam said the law is the key support for the poor and weak. “With this view, I joined BJP as I feel the security and sovereignty of the country should remain unaffected”. Mahajan, the daughter of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, was elected from the constituency in 2014 and 2019. She is also a former president of the BJP’s youth wing. Party leaders have claimed that the decision to drop her was based on organisational feedback, while some sources claimed the BJP dropped Mahajan due to an adverse poll survey on her winning prospects. Though indications had been there for some time that Mahajan would be dropped, it was the party’s search for her replacement that took time, sources said.