Lok Sabha Election Results: Top Candidates To Watch Out For In Bengal

Lok Sabha Election Results: Who are the top five candidates to watch out for in Bengal? These are the big guns that parties have fielded in the Lok Sabha elections.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Bengal Results: Check out the top candidates who were in the fray

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With barely 24 hours remaining for the declaration of the results of the Lok Sabha elections, parties are preparing their post-results strategies and their supporters are scanning through the exit poll surveys. Political enthusiasts and constituency residents are also eagerly waiting to know the fate of the candidates fighting for their segments.

Among the most eagerly awaited results are those of former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan, firebrand TMC leader Mahua Moitra, Congress's leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and actor-turned-politicians Shatrughan Sinha, Dev Adhikary, and Hiran Chatterjee.

Bengal Lok Sabha Exit Poll Results 2024

Most pollsters have predicted a significant loss of ground for the Trinamool Congress. This may well be the first time that the state's dominant party Trinamool Congress is left far behind by the BJP. The ABP-CVoter exit poll survey predicted a seat range of 1-3 seats for the Congress-Left alliance, while projecting 23-27 seats for the BJP in Bengal, which sends 42 MPs to Lok Sabha. The TMC was predicted to bag a mere 13-17 seats.

The Axis My India exit poll gave 26-31 seats to BJP. The TMC was projected to bag just 11-14 seats. The News18 Mega Exit Poll gave the BJP, which contested solo in Bengal, 21 to 24 seats and TMC, which stepped out of the INDIA bloc to fight alone as well, 18-21 seats. The Exit Poll predicted a null draw for the Congress-Left alliance.

Pollster Matrize predicted 16-20 seats for the TMC and 21-25 for the BJP, while Jan Ki Baat projected 18-20 seats for the TMC and 21-26 seats for the saffron party.

Bengal Lok Sabha Election Results 2024: Top Candidates

Yusuf Pathan

Former India star Yusuf Pathan, was among the two former cricketers contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Bengal. Other than Pathan, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning squad — Kirti Azad —  also fought the recently concluded polls. Both sports personalities contested on TMC tickets. Kirti Azad, son of former Bihar CM Bhagwat Azad, is a former Delhi MLA and Bihar MP, is steeped in politics. However, this was Pathan's foray into politics. Pathan went up against none other than Congress heavyweight and former Union Minister Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the Baharampur constituency.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

President of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who had a turbulent start to his political career in 1991, has been the Baharampur MP since 1999. He faced just one loss in his political career in the first election that he fought in the Nabagram assembly constituency, which he won in 1996. Adhir Ranjan is a vocal critic of the TMC and its chief Mamata Banerjee.

Mahua Moitra

TMC's firebrand leader who has gone viral on multiple occasions for her fiery speeches, Mahua Moitra was looking for a comeback to the Lok Sabha when she went up against . She was suspended in December last year over the cash-for-query case. She was accused of sharing her NIC login details with businessman Darshan Hiranandani for posting questions targeting the Adani group.

Shatrughan Sinha

Shatrughan 'Shotgun' Sinha is the sitting TMC MP from the Asansol constituency.  He went up against Bhojpuri actor-singer Pawan Singh, who is contesting as an independent. Shatrughan Sinha is a former Union minister with portfolios of Shipping and Health under him in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Dev Adhikary and Hiran Chatterjee

The two actors, Dev Adhikary and Hiran Chatterjee, of the Bengal film industry had been at odds with each other ever since TMC and BJP pitted them against each other in Ghatal Lok Sabha. While Dev accused Hiran of promoting an atmosphere of terror in Bengal's Keshpur in the run up to the polls, Hiran alleged that the police had not booked Dev after his personal secretary was "caught red-handed in a gold smuggling case and cash-for-jobs scam".

Locket Chatterjee & Rachana Banerjee

The actor-turned-politician has been a force to reckon with in Bengal. The incumbent Hooghly MP from the BJP sought to defend her seat against another celebrity Rachana Banerjee of the TMC. Locket Chatterjee is counted among the firebrand politicians in the country. Recently, she was filmed getting into an altercation with police officers over an alleged refusal to lodge an FIR. Her opponent Rachana Banerjee is the host of the popular Bengali show Didi No. 1. Rachana is made her electoral debut this year.