Lok Sabha polls Section 1 | 8 Union Ministers, 2 former CMs, one ex-governor in fray
Polling officers with EVMs and different election materials depart for election obligation forward of Lok Sabha elections, in Kathua on April 17, 2024.
| Photograph Credit score: PTI
Eight Union Ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are amongst those that are set to check their electoral destiny within the first section of elections on April 19 when 102 seats throughout 21 States and Union Territories will go to polls.
Union Highway and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is searching for a hat-trick of win from the Nagpur seat. In 2014, he had defeated seven-time MP Vilas Muttemwar by a margin of two.84 lakh votes and retained the seat in 2019 by defeating present Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole by 2.16 lakh votes.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju is contesting from the Arunachal West seat. The 52-year-old has represented the constituency thrice since 2004. Mr. Rijiju’s important rival is former chief minister and current president of Arunachal Pradesh Congress Nabam Tuki.
Sarbanada Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Transport and Waterways, is searching for a return to Lok Sabha from Dibrugarh in Assam. Mr. Sonowal, a Rajya Sabha member, was fielded from Dibrugarh after Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Pure Gasoline, Rameswar Teli, was not given a ticket.
Muzaffarnagar, identified for its intricate caste dynamics, is witnessing a three-cornered electoral battle, with Union Minister Sanjeev Baliyan locked in competitors towards Samajwadi Get together’s Harindra Malik and BSP candidate Dara Singh Prajapati.
Additionally Learn | Poor, farmers central to Modi authorities’s welfare insurance policies: Amit Shah in Muzaffarnagar
Jitendra Singh, a two-time parliamentarian and a junior Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cupboard, is aiming for a hat-trick in Udhampur.
Bhupendra Yadav, Union Minister and Rajya Sabha member who changed sitting MP Balak Nath, is in a contest with sitting Congress MLA Lalit Yadav, who belongs to Matsya area of Alwar district in Rajasthan and enjoys the help of the Yadav neighborhood.
Union Regulation Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is pitted towards former Congress minister Govind Ram Meghwl from Bikaner parliamentary seat in Rajasthan.
The Nilgiris Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu is witnessing one of many keenly watched battles between A Raja, the incumbent DMK MP, and former telecom minister, and L Murugan of the BJP, who’s the Union Minister of State for Fisheries. This would be the first time that Murugan, who was elected to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, is contesting from right here.
Sivaganga MP Karti Chidmabaram is aiming for a re-election from a seat his father gained seven occasions, competing towards BJP’s T. Devanathan Yadav and AIADMK’s Xavier Dass.
Tamil Nadu BJP president Okay. Annamalai is about to take the poll check in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore the place she is pitted towards DMK chief Ganapathy P. Rajkumar and AIADMK’s Singai Ramachandran.
Tamilisai Soundararajan, who not too long ago resigned as governor of Telangana and Lt Governor of Puducherry to return to lively politics, is contesting from Chennai South Lok Sabha constituency. Daughter of veteran Congress chief Kumari Anantha, Ms. Soundararajan had contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections towards DMK’s Kanimozhi, however misplaced by an enormous margin in Thoothukudi.
Additionally Learn | Infrastructure and surroundings take centre stage in BJP’s manifesto for Chennai South
This time, Mr. Kanimozhi is searching for a re-election from the seat. NDA ally Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) has fielded SDR Vijayaseelan and AIADMK has fielded R. Sivasami Velumani from the constituency.
Nakul Nath, son of Congress chief and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, is searching for a re-election Chhindwara.
The seat has remained firmly with Kamal Nath, who has gained the seat 9 occasions since 1980. Within the 2019 polls, the BJP bagged 28 seats out of the State’s 29, however missed out on selecting Chhindwara, the place Nakul beat the BJP’s candidate by 37,536 votes to emerge because the lone Congress MP within the State.
Of the 2 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tripura, the seat of West Tripura that votes within the first section on April 19 will see a high-voltage conflict between former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb and State Congress president Ashish Kumar Saha.
Having gained Lok Sabha elections twice since 2014 from Kaliabor constituency in Assam, Gaurav Gogoi, Congress’ deputy chief in Lok Sabha and son of former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, finds himself as the brand new candidate in neighbouring Jorhat, the place BJP’s Topon Kumar Gogoi gained in 2019.
Gaurav Gogoi’s shift to Jorhat got here after the impression of delimitation train in his 2019 constituency, Kaliabor.
Additionally Learn | Will win by over 2 lakh votes towards Gaurav Gogoi in Jorhat: Assam BJP MP
Manipur Regulation and Training Minister Basanta Kumar Singh is BJP’s nominee for the Interior Manipur constituency and is pitted towards JNU professor and Congress candidate Bimal Akoijam.
Mr. Singh, who belongs to the Meiti neighborhood, is the son of Thounaojam Chaoba Singh who served because the Union Minister of State for sports activities, youth affairs, tradition and meals processing within the NDA authorities led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The BJP stronghold of Churu, in northern Rajasthan, is readying for an fascinating match between BJP candidate Devendra Jhajharia, a two-time Paralympic gold medallist javelin thrower, and Rahul Kaswan from the Congress. Mr. Kaswan is a turncoat who has made the struggle for Churu fascinating. The 2-time left the BJP solely in March after he was denied a ticket by the occasion.
Polling for the 543 seats for electing the 18th Lok Sabha might be held in seven phases. The votes might be counted on June 4.
