From Varanasi To Lucknow, 8 Challengers Pitched Against Prominent Faces In This Lok Sabha Elections

In the Varanasi seat, Ajay Rai is challenging the prime minister for the third time Rai in the UP seat. Rai, a five-time MLA, went on to be elected to the UP Assembly three times on a BJP ticket.

The polling for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 has been conducted in  379 seats or 70% of the total 543 seats, across 23 states and Union territories. 

While the elections have been conducted in several key constituencies across states including West Bengal, Bihar, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Telangana, several other prominent seats are yet to go to polls in the remaining three phases.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Raebareli are yet to go to polls, other prominent constituencies including Baramati, Hyderabad, Begusarai, Gandhinagar and Asansol have already gone to polls. 

Here is a list of prominent challengers in this Lok Sabha Elections

Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday filed his nomination from the Varanasi seat, from here he is seeking a third term this election. The nomination event of the prime minister was attended by several prominent NDA leaders including Union ministers and chief ministers including Yogi Adityanath. In the Varanasi seat, Ajay Rai is challenging the prime minister for the third time Rai in the UP seat. Rai, a five-time MLA, went on to be elected to the UP Assembly three times on a BJP ticket — in 1996, 2002 and 2007 from the Kolasla seat in Varanasi. 

Raebareli: Rahul Gandhi is contesting the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat, which has been a Congress stronghold for over 25 years now. In the Rae Bareli seat, BJP has pitched Dinesh Pratap Singh, who had unsuccessfully contested the last Lok Sabha election against Sonia Gandhi. In 2019, Congress won only one seat in UP and that was Rae Bareli. 
57-year-old Singh is a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh and was with the Congress before switching to the BJP in 2018. He has been a member of the UP Legislative Council since 2010, winning elections first as a Congress member and then as the BJP’s candidate.

Basirhat: Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded Haji Nurul Islam from the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal. The Basirhat seat includes Sandeshkhali, which has been in the news for land grab and alleged sexual assault involving former TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his supporters. TMC has fielded Islam, who has been associated with the party since 1998, replacing sitting MP Nusrat Jahan. 

The BJP on the other hand named Rekha Patra, a survivor of the violence in Sandeshkhali, as the Lok Sabha candidate in the seat. Rekha was the first woman to raise the voice of the victims of Sandeshkhali which later led to the arrest of TMC MLA Sheikh Shahjahan and others. Rekha is also believed to have been part of the group that met PM Modi in March regarding the plight of Sandeshkhali women.

Vidisha: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is fighting the Lok Sabha election from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. Shivraj, who is four-term CM of Madhya Pradesh and 5-time MP is one of the prominent faces of the BJP in the state. Fighting against Shivraj is Congress candidate Pratap Bhanu Sharma. Sharma won the Vidisha seat in 1980 and 1984, while Shivraj won the seat from 1991 to 2004.

Guna: Jyotiraditya Scindia is fighting the Lok Sabha elections from Guna in Madhya Pradesh once again after losing the royal family bastion in 2019 elections. Guna has been synonymous with Gwalior’s royal Scindia family where Scindia won four times – in 2002, 2004, 2009 and 2014 – on Congress ticket. 

Fighting against Scindia is Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav, a district panchayat president, who switched from the BJP to Congress. Yadav is the son of former BJP MLA Rao Deshraj Singh Yadav, a sworn adversary of the Scindia family.  

Gandhinagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah is contesting to retain the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, where voting was held on May 7. The Congress has fielded Sonal Patel is All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and the party co-incharge of Mumbai and western Maharashtra. She also served as president of the Gujarat Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee from 2012 to 2018. However, in 2014 and 2019, the BJP had all 26 seats in the state.

Lucknow: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is seeking a third consecutive term as MP from Lucknow, a BJP bastion for decades. Samajwadi Party has fielded Ravidas Mehrotra as the I.N.D.I.A alliance candidate from the UP capital against Singh. Mehrotra, a two-term MLA, has been a former cabinet minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh led by Akhilesh Yadav.

Begusarai: Union Minister Giriraj Singh is seeking a second term from Begusarai in Bihar. The constituency witnessed a high-stake battle in 2019, when the firebrand BJP leader fought against then-CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar. However, this time, the CPI has pitched Awadhesh Kumar Rai, a two-time MLA from Bachhwada assembly constituency, from the Begusarai seat.