The first phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held on April 19 in 21 states and union territories of the country, under which voting will be held on 102 seats. In the first phase, 8 Union Ministers, two former Chief Ministers and one former Governor are also trying their luck in the election field in this phase. Among these, Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is hoping to score a hat-trick of victories from Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency, while Union Minister Kiren Rijiju is contesting from Arunachal West seat.
Arunachal and Assam candidates
Rijiju is contesting from the Arunachal West Lok Sabha seat against former Chief Minister and current president of Arunachal Pradesh unit of Congress, Nabam Tuki. Union Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is contesting from Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat in Assam. After the ticket of Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameshwar Teli was cut, Rajya Sabha member Sonowal has been fielded from Dibrugarh.
Muzaffarnagar and Udhampur
A triangular contest is expected in UP’s Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat, where Union Minister Sanjeev Baliyan is facing off against Samajwadi Party (SP)’s Harendra Malik and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Dara Singh Prajapati.
Jitendra Singh, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet and two-time MP, is hoping to win the elections from Udhampur Lok Sabha seat for the third consecutive time. Union Minister and Rajya Sabha member Bhupendra Yadav has been fielded from Alwar Lok Sabha seat of Rajasthan. Yadav is contesting from sitting Congress MLA Lalit Yadav.
Alwar and Tamil Nadu
The ticket of sitting MP Balak Nath has been cut from Alwar seat. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is contesting against former Congress minister Govind Ram Meghwal on the Bikaner parliamentary seat of Rajasthan. Meanwhile, in the Nilgiri Lok Sabha seat of Tamil Nadu, DMK MP and former Telecom Minister A Raja is contesting against BJP’s L Murugan, who is the Union Minister of State for Fisheries. Murugan, who was elected to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, is contesting from Nilgiri Lok Sabha seat for the first time.
Sivagangai Coimbatore
Karti Chidambaram, MP from Sivagangai Lok Sabha seat, is again in the fray on Congress ticket and is pitted against BJP’s T Devanathan Yadav and AIADMK’s Xavier Das. Karti’s father, former finance minister P Chidambaram, was elected MP from the Sivagangai Lok Sabha seat seven times. BJP Tamil Nadu unit president K. Annamalai is trying his luck from Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat, where he is pitted against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Ganapathy P. Rajkumar and All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)’s Singai Ramachandran.
Tamilisai Soundararajan, who recently resigned from the post of Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, is returning to active politics and is contesting from Chennai South Lok Sabha constituency. Tamilisai Soundararajan, daughter of veteran Congress leader Kumari Ananth, had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections against DMK leader Kanimozhi from Thoothukudi Lok Sabha seat but lost.
Chhindwara and Tripura
Nakul Nath, son of Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, is once again trying his luck from Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency. Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat is considered the stronghold of Kamal Nath, who had won the seat nine times since 1980. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had won 28 out of 29 seats in the state but missed out on winning Chhindwara.
There is a contest on the West Tripura Lok Sabha seat between former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Congress state unit president Ashish Kumar Saha. Manipur Law and Education Minister and BJP candidate Basant Kumar Singh is contesting from Inner Manipur constituency and is pitted against Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professor and Congress candidate Bimal Akoizam.
Rajasthan
Two-time Paralympic gold medalist javelin thrower and BJP candidate Devendra Jhajharia is trying his luck from Churu Lok Sabha seat in North Rajasthan, considered a BJP stronghold. His contest is against Congress candidate Rahul Kaswan. After getting the ticket, Kaswan left BJP and joined Congress in March.
Voting for the country’s 18th Lok Sabha will be held on 543 seats in seven phases and the counting of votes will take place on June 4.
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