Election 2019 Results: All You Need To Know About The Big Seats That Key Candidates Are Contesting From

Over 8,000 candidates contested across 543 Parliamentary seats in the 17th Lok Sabha election. And as the counting begins and initial trends start coming in, it will become extremely difficult to track the big seats and the key candidates.

Don’t fret. BloombergQuint has compiled some of the most important seats in each state, and why they matter. Here’s a state-wise list:

Andhra Pradesh

• Vizianagram: Telugu Desam Party’s Ashok Gajapathi Raju belongs to the erstwhile royal family of Vizianagram. He served as the Union Minister for Civil Aviation in the Modi government, before the TDP quit the NDA over a dispute with the centre.
• Guntur: TDP’s Galla Jayadev will fight the party’s rebel Modugula Venugopala Reddy. Reddy is being fielded by the YSR Congress Party.
• Vishakapatnam: BJP’s candidate Daggubati Purandeswari is the daugther of TDP founder NT Rama Rao. She will take on YSRCP’s MVV Satyanarayana. Daggubati was twice elected as a Congress MP in 2004 and 2009. She lost as a BJP candidate in 2014 from Rajampet.
• Araku: The constituency, which is known for its coffee, will see former Congress leader V Kishore Chandra Deo being fielded by the TDP. In his Congress stint, Deo served as a cabinet minister during the UPA regime.
• Kadapa: The stronghold of YS Rajasekhara Reddy family will field the former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s nephew YS Avinash Reddy from the YSRCP. The family has retained this seat since 1989. Avinash will be pitted against his party’s former member Adinarayana Reddy, who quit in 2016 – now representing TDP in this election.

Assam

• Silchar: Amid the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the contest in Silchar is between Congress’ current MP Sushmita Dev and BJP’s Rajdeep Roy.
• Dhubri: All India United Democratic Front’s Founder Badruddin Ajmal will test the waters for the third term as MP and will compete against Congress’ Abu Taher Bepari, and Trinamool Congress’ Nurul Islam. Bepari had quit the Congress in 2015, only to re-join it in 2017. He is currently an MLA from Golakganj.
• Kokrajhar: Incumbent MP Naba Kumar Sarania—a former commander of a banned militant group ULFA—will fight against Urkhao Gwra Brahma, former Rajya Sabha member. Also in the fray are Pramila Rani Brahma, a minister in the BJP-led Assam government, and Congress’ Sabda Ram Rabha. Kokrajhar has traditionally elected Bodo leaders to the Lok Sabha since 1957.

Bihar

• Gaya: The Mahagathbandhan’s ability to combine votes will be closely watched in this seat where Hindustani Awam Morcha’s founder Jitan Ram Manjhi will fight against Janata Dal United’s Vijay Kumar. BJP’s sitting MP Hari Manjhi lost out on representing this seat again as it went to alliance partner JD(U). Manjhi had finished third when he was a JD(U) candidate in 2014 – a time when all parties fought the election here separately.
• Jamui: Ram Vilas Paswan’s son Chirag Paswan looks to retain the seat he won for the Lok Janshakti Party in 2014.
• Madhepura: The seat is set to witness a clash of Yadavs. Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who founded the Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) in 2015 after exiting Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal. He's up against seven-time MP Sharad Yadav who broke away from Nitish Kumar and the Janata Dal (United) in 2017 and will represent the Mahagathbandhan. Ranjan (then RJD candidate) had defeated Yadav (then JD(U)) in 2014.
• Supaul: Congress’ Ranjeet Ranjan is pitted against JD(U)’s Dileshwar Kamait. Ranjan is the wife of Pappu Yadav and is seeking a second term.
• Ujiarpur: BJP’s Bihar chief and sitting MP Nityanand Rai will be up against Rashtriya Lok Samta Party Upendra Kushwaha. The latter, who had won the 2014 election from Karakat, was a minister in the Modi government before quitting the NDA in December 2018.
• Samastipur: Lok Janshakti Party’s Ramchandra Paswan had defeated Congress’ Ashok Kumar by a margin of only 6,000 votes. Crucially that year, votes cast in the None Of The Above option was much larger than the margin of victory, at a record 29,211 votes. Both contestants from 2014 will repeat this year too.
• Begusarai: Minister of State for micro, small and medium enterprises Giriraj Singh will face Communist Party of India’s Kanhaiya Kumar, and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tanveer Hasan. Kumar, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union leader, was arrested in February 2016 on charges of sedition. This seat has been a swing seat since 1984 and Singh was pitched here to accommodate an LJP candidate in Nawada as a part of the seat-sharing deal.
• Madhubani: The constituency, which is known for its distinct art style, will see BJP’s Ashok Kumar Yadav contest independent candidate and former AICC General Secretary Shakeel Ahmad. Yadav—a three-time MLA from Keoti in Darbhanga—is the son of four-time MP and sitting parliamentarian Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav. Also in the fray is Badrinath Purve of the Vikassheel Insaaf Party, who was given a ticket based on the ‘grand alliance.’
• Saran: Earlier known as Chapra, this constituency will see BJP’s Rajeev Pratap Rudy eyeing a second term. He will contest against Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Chandrika Rai, and a namesake of jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. Rudy had lost to Yadav in 2004 and 2009, but had won in 2014 against former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi. His contenders continue to have the Yadav link as Chandrika Rai—a six-time MLA— is the father-in-law of Yadav’s son Tej Pratap.
• Hajipur: Eight-time MP Ram Vilas Paswan’s younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras will represent the Lok Janshakti Party against RJD’s Shiv Chandra Ram. Sitting MP Paswan represented Hajipur from 1977-84, 1989-91 and 1996-2009.
• Purvi Champaran: BJP’s Radha Mohan Singh will take on Akash Kumar Singh of the RSLP and Rajeev Ranjan Srivastava of the Janta Dal Rashtrawadi. Singh, agriculture minister in the Modi-led cabinet, is seeking a third term, while Srivastava returned from Singapore to join politics.
• Vaishali: Five-time parliamentarian who lost in 2014— RJD’s Raghuvansh Prasad Singh— will challenge LJP’s Veena Devi, the sitting Member of Parliament from Munger and the wife of rebel leader Surajbhan Singh.
• Siwan: The NDA decided to not repeat the two-time sitting MP Om Prakash Yadav from this seat and gave the ticket to the wife of strongman Ajay Singh— Kavita Singh. She will contest against RJD’s Heena Shahab. Kavita is two-time MLA from Daraundha seat while Shahab is the wife of strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin, who represented the seat from 1996-2004. He is legally barred from contesting elections and is lodged in the Tihar Jail.
• Patna Sahib: Shatrughan Sinha will contest as a Congress candidate this time against the BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad. While this is the incumbent Minister of Law and Justice’s first-ever Lok Sabha election, the BJP had refused to give Sinha a ticket for a third-term as MP.
• Pataliputra: Former Lalu Yadav loyalist and four-time MP Ram Kripal Yadav is contesting on a BJP ticket against Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Misa Bharti. Ram Kripal Yadav had quit the party in 2014 to join BJP after Lalu Yadav gave the ticket to his daughter Bharti who lost.
• Buxar: BJP’s Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwani Kumar Choubey seeks a second term and will compete against RJD’s Jagadanand Singh. Singh was an MP from 2009-2014 before losing to Choubey with a 1.3-lakh vote margin.

Delhi

• Chandni Chowk: BJP’s Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Environment Harsh Vardhan seeks re-election against AAP’s Pankaj Gupta and the Congress’ Jai Parkash Aggarwal. Gupta was an IT professional before joining AAP in 2012 and has served as the party’s national secretary. Aggarwal was an MP from North-East Delhi from 2009-2014.
• North-East Delhi: BJP’s state-unit president Manoj Tiwari seeks a second term and will contest against Congress’ three-time former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and AAP’s Dilip Pandey. Tiwari had won in 2014 by a margin of 1.4 lakh votes. Dikshit, former governor of Kerala, was summoned again to resurrect the Congress in Delhi. Congress’ Arvinder Singh Lovely has had a somersault of a political career after he quit the congress, joined BJP only to come back to the former party in 2018.
• New Delhi: BJP’s sitting MP Meenakshi Lekhi seeks a second term and is challenged by Congress’ Ajay Maken and the AAP’s Brijesh Goyal. Maken, a former president of the DPCC, was a two-time MP from this seat from 2004-2014.

Goa

• North Goa: The Union Minister of State in the Ministry of AYUSH—Shripad Yesso Naik—will represent the BJP against Congress’ state unit chief Girish Chodankar. Naik has represented this seat (formerly known as Panaji) since 1999.

Gujarat

• Gandhinagar: Replacing six-time MP LK Advani, BJP president Amit Shah will make his Lok Sabha election debut. The Congress contender for this seat is two-time MLA CJ Chavda. The Congress had earlier fielded candidates like Rajesh Khanna, and former Chief Election Commissioner TN Seshan.
• Dahod: The Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jasvantsinh Bhabor will fight to seek a second-term and is up against Congress’ Babubhai Katara. The seat was a Congress stronghold until 1998, and was then represented by Katara twice as a BJP MP before he switched parties.
• Bharuch: BJP’s six-time MP Mansukhbhai Vasava and Congress’ Sherkhan Pathan are the contenders. The constituency has had only three MPs since 1977 and has been represented by Vasava since 1998. Pathan faces charges of murder, kidnapping and voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons, among others.
• Surat: BJP’s MP since 2009, Darshana Jardosh, will run to represent the seat which was represented by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai for 23 years. The Congress has fielded Ashok Adhevada as its contender.

Haryana

• Sirsa: Indian National Lok Dal’s Charanjit Singh Rori—who is seeking a second-term as an MP— is up against BJP’s Sunita Duggal, and Congress’ Ashok Tanwar. While Tanwar won the seat in 2009, Duggal is a former IRS officer who joined the BJP in 2014. Also in the fray is Nirmal Singh Malhadi from the Jannayak Janta Party.
• Hisar: It is a battle among JJP founder—the youngest MP ever Dushyant Chautala, Congress’ Bhavya Bishnoi and BJP’s Birjendra Singh. Chautala is the grandson of INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala and had won in 2014 on an INLD ticket. Much like his father, he was suspended by his grandfather for anti-party activities, which paved the way to the formation of JJP. Also in the fray is INLD’s Suresh Koth. Congress’ Bhavya has a tryst with the party since his father Kuldeep Bishnoi was the founder of the Haryana Janhit Congress which later merged with the Congress. Bhavya is a graduate in economics and public policy from Oxford. BJP’s Brijendra Singh—a former IAS officer and Rahul Gandhi’s classmate— is the son of Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh.
• Rohtak: Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Deepender Singh Hooda will seek a fourth term on a Congress ticket. He will be pitted against BJP’s Arvind Sharma— a former Congress MP— and JJP’s Pradeep Deshwal. Since 1952, the Hooda family has represented Rohtak eight times. Deepender's grandfather Ranbir Singh Hooda was the first MP from the seat and represented it till 1962.
• Gurugram: The erstwhile Gurgaon again became a Lok Sabha seat in 2009 post the delimitation process. BJP’s Rao Inderjit Singh has won both the elections since then—once as a Congress candidate, and the other on a BJP ticket. A minister in the Hooda government and a former Indian Army captain Ajay Singh Yadav is the Congress’ pick for this seat this year. INLD has pitched Virender Rana.
• Faridabad: BJP’s Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar seeks a second term against Congress’ Avtar Singh Bhadana and the Aam Aadmi Party’s Naveen Jaihind. While Bhadana has represented this seat from 2004-14, AAP is looking to make inroads into Haryana with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal holding roadshows for Jaihind.

Himachal Pradesh

• Kangra: Congress’ Pawan Kajal will compete against BJP’s Kishan Kapoor. The BJP dropped four-time MP Shanta Kumar from the seat and has fielded Kapoor, who belongs to the Gaddi tribe and is the Minister for Food and Civil Supply in the Jairam Thakur-led government. Pawan Kajal is a two-time MLA and is an OBC candidate.
• Mandi: Incumbent BJP MP Ram Swarup Sharma will contest against Congress’ Ashray Sharma, the grandson of Pandit Sukhram who was involved in the 1996 telecom scam.
• Hamirpur: BJP’s Anurag Thakur seeks a fifth term against Congress’ Ram Lal Thakur, who is a sitting MLA from Shri Naina Devi constituency. Anurag Thakur is a former Board of Control for Cricket in India chief and has represented the seat since 2008. Ram Lal Thakur has lost the Lok Sabha election thrice and lost the 2007 by-election to PK Dhumal by over 80,000 votes.

Jammu & Kashmir

• Srinagar: The state’s former chief minister and chairman of the J&K National Conference, Farooq Abdullah, will contest against former-journalist and BJP spokesperson Sheikh Khalid Jehangir, and Peoples Democratic Party’s Agha Syed Mohsin.
• Anantnag: Former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party Chief Mehbooba Mufti and Congress’ Ghulam Ahmad Mir are the contenders. Also in the fray is Jammu & Kashmir National Conference’s Hasnain Masoodi. Polling will be held in three phases, with shortened voting hours. Mufti has been the MP from 2004 to 2009 and 2014 to 2016.

Jharkhand

• Ranchi: After representing the state’s capital for five terms on a BJP ticket, Ram Tahal Choudhary seeks a sixth term as an independent candidate. He will contest three-time Congress MP Subodh Kant Sahay, and BJP’s Sanjay Seth, who is the former president of the Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• Hazaribagh: BJP’s Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha seeks re-election against Congress’ Jharkhand treasurer Gopal Sahu. While the Congress has never won this seat in 35 years, Jayant Sinha’s father Yashwant Sinha, a former finance minister, held the seat from 1998-2004.
• Dhanbad: Seeking a second term as a BJP parliamentarian, Pashupati Nath Singh will contest against Congress’ Kirti Azad, who is the son of former Bihar CM Bhagwat Jha Azad. Kirti Azad was a three-time MP from Darbhanga when he was with the BJP before being suspended in 2015.
• Dumka: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha founder and former state Chief Minister Shibu Soren will compete against his former mentee - Sunil Soren. Shibu Soren has been winning this seat since the formation of Jharkhand. The last time the BJP won this seat was when Babulal Marandi represented it from 1998-2002. Sunil Soren, who had contested against Shibu Soren in 2009 and 2014—lost both times, but increased his vote share.

Karnataka

• Bangalore South: BJP’s 28-year-old parliament hopeful Tejasvi Surya was a surprise choice for many as he seeks to make his debut. Surya is the general secretary of the states’ BJP Youth Wing. He faces Congress’ BK Hariprasad, an MP from the upper house.
• Bangalore North: Two Gowdas, although unrelated, are eyeing this constituency. India’s Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation and BJP leader DV Sadananda Gowda is seeking re-election. His competitor is Congress’ Krishna Byre Gowda.
• Chikkaballapur: In a repeat of 2009, Congress’ sitting MP Veerappa Moily will compete against BJP’s BN Bache Gowda.
• Udupi Chikmagalur: BJP’s Shobha Karandlaje seeks re-election from the seat, hoping to beat Pramod Madhwaraj who joined the JD(S) as a last-minute switch from the Congress in a hope to get a ticket.
• Vijayapura: Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramesh Jigajinagi will seek a third stint as an MP for the BJP. He will contest Janata Dal (Secular)’s Sunitha Devanand Chavan. This seat has been a BJP stronghold since 1999.
• Kalaburagi: Congress’ leader in the outgoing Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, will seek a third term from Kalaburagi, and will be up against BJP’s Umesh Jadhav. A Congress stronghold, the seat has elected MPs from other parties only twice: in 1996 and 1998.
• Uttara Kannada: BJP’s Union Minister of State for Skill Development Ananth Kumar Hegde will take on Anand Asnotikar of the JD(S). Asnotikar was a former BJP minister and defected to the JD(S) in 2018.
• Shivamogga: BJP’s BY Raghavendra won the seat in a byelection in 2018 after his father and state party chief BS Yeddyurappa chose to retain his assembly seat after the 2018 state polls. Raghavendra had earlier won this seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls when his father was the state’s chief minister. In a rematch of last year’s by-poll he faces Madhu Bangarappa – son of former Shimoga MP S Bangarappa, who had also briefly served as chief minister of Karnataka. Bangarappa senior won this seat for the Congress, BJP, and Samajwadi Party, before moving to the JD(S).

Kerala

• Pathanamthitta: The BJP fancies its chances the most in this constituency—which was the epicentre of the protests last year over the Supreme Court order permitting the entry of women in the Sabarimala shrine. K Surendran, who led the protests, is the BJP’s candidate and will contest against Congress’ Anto Antony, who is seeking re-election, and CPI(M)’s Veena George.
• Wayanad: Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s decision contest from Wayanad, in addition to Amethi, triggered reactions across the political spectrum. Gandhi will face BJP ally Bharath Dharma Jana Sena’s Thushar Vellapally. The Left Front candidate is CPI’s PP Suneer. Also contesting among a bunch of independent candidates are two, named Raghul Gandhi K, and Rahul Gandhi KE.
• Ponnani: The Indian Union Muslim League has won each of the 11 Lok Sabha election held in this constituency since 1977. IUML’s sitting MP Mohammed Basheer will contest against BJP’s VT Rema and independent candidate PV Anvar.
• Ernakulam: Union Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthanam is up against CPI(M)’s P Rajeev, a former Rajya Sabha MP, and Congress’ Ernakulam MLA Hibi Eden. Veteran Congress leader KV Thomas represented this seat for five terms.
• Thiruvananthapuram: Congress’ Shashi Tharoor is pitted against BJP’s Kummanam Rajasekharan, who was the party’s state unit chief from 2015 to 2018. Tharoor has represented Kerala’s capital since 2009, while Rajasekharan was the governor of Mizoram until he resigned last month to re-enter active politics.

Madhya Pradesh

• Jabalpur: The marble-rock city will see BJP state chief Rakesh Singh against Congress’ Vivek Tankha. Singh is seeking a third term as an MP and will try to maintain the BJP’s 23-year winning streak here.
• Mandla: BJP’s Faggan Singh Kulaste—who gained prominence when currency notes were brandished in Parliament during 2008 trust vote—will take on Congress’ Kamal Maravi. A five-time MP from Mandla, Kulaste’s candidature has been opposed by local workers this time.
• Balaghat: A BJP fortress since 1998, the party’s Dhal Singh Bisen will go against Congress’ Madhu Bhagat, and independent candidate Bodh Singh Bhagat. The BJP dropped its incumbent MP Bodh Singh Bhagat – who is now contesting as an independent candidate.
• Chhindwara: The naxal-affected district will see Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath represent the Congress to contest against BJP’s Nathan Singh. Kamal Nath had represented the seat since 1980, except in 1997 when former CM Sunder Lal Patwa won a by-poll.
• Gwalior: BJP’s Vivek Shejwalkar will be contesting from here instead of sitting MP and union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is contesting from Morena. Shejwalkar's father, Narain Krishna Rao Shejwalkar, was two-time MP of Gwalior from 1977-1984. He will contest against Congress’ Ashok Singh who has thrice lost from seat. However, since his first loss in the 2007 by-poll, he has consistently managed to increase his vote share as well as total votes in subsequent elections and lost to Tomar in 2014 by only 29,700 votes.
• Guna: Scindia family scion Jyotiraditya Scindia will represent the Congress to seek a fifth term against BJP’s KP Yadav, who was a former confidante of Scindia. Scindia has been undefeated from the seat since 2002 and his family has represented the seat continuously since 1989.
• Bhopal: Terror-accused BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur will contest former Congress’ former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh. Thakur is an accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts and stirred controversy for her statements on slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare, and for claiming to cure cancer through cow urine.
• Mandsaur: BJP’s sitting MP Sudheer Gupta seeks a second term as he competes against Congress’ Meenakshi Natarajan and BSP’s Prabhulal Meghwal. Gupta had defeated Natarajan in 2014.
• Indore: Eight-time MP and speaker of the previous Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan had to make a public announcement of her opting out of the electoral race after the BJP top brass took inordinately long to declare their candidate from the seat. 'Tai' as she is fondly referred to has been winning the seat since 1989. Instead, the BJP picked Shankar Lalwani, former Chairman of the Indore Development Authority and President of the Indore Municipal Corporation. Up against Lalwani is Congress candidate Pankaj Sanghvi, who lost the 1998 election to Mahajan.
• Ratlam: This seat has traditionally been a Congress stronghold. From the first election held in 1952, only three instances have seen candidates from parties other than the Congress emerging victorious. One such instance was in 2014, when the late Dileep Singh Bhuria won the seat. Bhuria was also MP from 1980 to 1996, on a Congress ticket before defecting to the BJP. Kantilal Bhuria, a four-time MP won the ensuing by-poll and now seeks a fifth term in office.

Maharashtra

• Nagpur: Among the key ministers in the Modi cabinet, Nitin Gadkari is the incumbent MP for Nagpur, and is being challenged by Nana Patole of the Congress. Patole quit the BJP in 2017 after criticising Prime Minister Modi.
• Chandrapur: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir has been elected four times from Chandrapur, and is up against Suresh Dhanorkar of the Congress.
• Amravati: Shiv Sena’s Anandrao Adsul, who is vying for a sixth term to the Lok Sabha, is pitted against South Indian actress-turned-politician Navneet Kaura Rana—fielded by the Yuva Swabhiman Party, an alliance partner of the Congress. The last Congress candidate to win in Amravati was Pratibha Patil in 1991, who went on to become President of India.
• Nanded: One of the holiest cities for the Sikhs, Nanded will see Maharashtra's former Chief Minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan contest against the Pratap Chikhalikar, a Shiv Sena MLA fielded by its alliance partner BJP.
• Beed: BJP’s incumbent MP Pritam Munde will be fighting to keep her seat in this parched and agrarian crises-hit district. She won the by-election in 2014 with the highest margin of votes recorded in the history of Indian elections. Munde will face Bajrang Sonawane, NCP’s district president.
• Raigad: Union Heavy Industries Minister Ananth Geete, who has represented this constituency since 2009, takes on former Maharashtra Finance Minister and NCP Leader Sunil Tatkare in a re-match of 2014. Geete won that round by a narrow margin of 2,110 votes. Among independent candidates also on the ballot are two—Sunil Pandurang Tatkare and Sunil Sakharam Tatkare.
• Baramati: Is among the four seats the Nationalist Congress Party bagged in 2014. Two-term MP Supriya Sule—daughter of NCP Chief Sharad Pawar–who himself represented the seat from 1991 to 2009. Sule is up against Kanchan Kul of the BJP, who's the wife of Daund MLA Rahul Kul of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha.
• Jalna: State BJP Chief Raosaheb Danve is seeking a fifth term, and has been MP since 1999. He faces Vilas Autade of the Congress in a re-run of 2014, when Danve won by over 2 lakh votes.
• Hatkanangle: Two-term MP Raju Shetti and his Swabhimani Paksha left the NDA in 2017 over differences relating to issues of farmer distress, and faces Dhairyasheel Mane of the Shiv Sena. Mane’s mother was elected twice from this seat for the NCP, and his grandfather on five occasions for the Congress.
• Raver: Sitting MP Raksha Khadse is the daughter-in-law of former Maharashtra Finance Minister Eknath Khadse. Raksha Khadse was the joint-youngest Lok Sabha MP in 2014, at the age of 26.
• Dhule: BJP’s Union Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre will contest Congress’ Kunal Patil. The seat has been won by BJP since 1996.
• Mumbai North: BJP’s Gopal Shetty is pitted against actress-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar of the Congress. Shetty’s 2014 victory was the BJP’s first win from the constituency in 10 years. In that election, he defeated Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam by over four lakh votes. Shetty has a track record of 100 percent attendance in the Parliament. 2014 NOTA Polled: 8,758 votes.
• Mumbai North Central: This seat will see a contest between daughters of former politicians. Incumbent BJP MP Poonam Mahajan will take on Congress’ Priya Dutt. Dutt had won the seat in a by-election in 2005 after her father’s death, and had retained it in 2009. 2014 NOTA Polled: 6,937 votes.
• Mumbai North West: Shiv Sena’s Gajanan Kirtikar and Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam are vying for the seat. Kirtikar had defeated Congress’ Gurudas Kamat in 2014, turning the tables on a 2009 contest, when Kamat had trumped Kirtikar. NOTA Polled: 11,009 votes.
• Mumbai North East: Nationalist Congress Party’s Sanjay Dina Patil will be up against BJP’s replacement for Kirit Somaiya – Manoj Kotak. Shiv Sena had protested against Somaiya being the BJP’s choice for this seat. Kotak is a member of state legislative council for the BJP. 2014 NOTA Polled: 7,114 votes.
• Mumbai South Central: A Shiv Sena stronghold, Rahul Shewale will contest Congress’ Eknath Gaikwad. The Sena had held this seat for 20 years until 2009 when Gaikwad broke the trend. He, however, lost the 2014 election. 2014 NOTA Polled: 9,571 votes.
• Mumbai South: Sitting Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant and Congress’ Milind Deora will repeat their 2014 contest Deora, who has been endorsed by Mukesh Ambani, had lost to Sawant in the previous election, after serving as MP for two terms, in 2004 and 2009. 2014 NOTA Polled: 9,573 votes.
• Maval: Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne seeks a second term and will be challenged by NCP’s Parth Pawar. Parth is the son of former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar, who is the nephew of party chief Sharad Pawar.

Odisha

• Bhadrak: BJP’s Abhimanyu Sethi, Congress’ Madhumita Sethi, and Biju Janata Dal’s Manjulata Mandal are in the fray in this phase. Abhimanyu Sethi is the son of eight-time MP Arjun Charan Sethi who has won on various party tickets – Congress (1971, 1980), Janata Dal (1996) and BJD (1998-Present). Madhumita Sethi is the daughter of former MP Ananta Prasad Sethi, who was the Congress MP in 1984, while Manjulata is the wife of Dhamnagar MLA Mukti Mandal.
• Kendrapara: Defecting from the BJD, Baijayant Panda will contest this seat on a BJP ticket and will be against famous Odia actor and BJD’s pick Anubhav Mohanty. Also in the fray is Congress’ Dharanidhar Nayak.

Punjab

• Gurdaspur: The seat represented by late actor Vinod Khanna was won by Sunil Jakhar, son of former Lok Sabha speaker Balram Jakhar in the by-poll. Jakhar now seeks re-election from the seat. Up against him is Ajay Singh Deol, better known as Sunny Deol whose father Dharmendra was also an MP on a BJP ticket. Dharmendra in an interview had also said that he would not have let Sunny contest from Gurdaspur had he known that his opponent was Sunil Jakhar as he too was like a son to him.
• Amritsar: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri will be making his Lok Sabha debut with this election. He is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh. Up against him is Gurjeet Singh Aujla, who won the 2017 by-poll after Amarinder Singh became Chief Minister. Amarinder Singh had defeated Arun Jaitley from this seat in 2014.
• Patiala: Amarinder Singh's hometown where his wife and three-time MP Preneet Kaur lost to then-AAP member Dharamvir Gandhi. Gandhi has now gone on to form his own unit, the Nawaan Punjab Party and seeks re-election this time around. Kaur, who lost in 2014 by just 21,000 votes is also in the fray.
• Bathinda: Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is seeking a third-term as MP. Up against her is Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, a sitting MLA and former President of the Indian Youth Congress. Badal had won in 2014 by just under 20,000 votes.
• Firozpur: An Akali Dal stronghold, the party has been winning the seat since 1998. However, two-time and sitting MP Sher Singh Ghubaya has defected to the Congress and has been promptly given an opportunity to defend his seat. Up against Ghubaya is former Punjab Deputy CM and Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. Badal has represented Faridkot as MP from 1996-1999.
• Sangrur: Comedian turned controversial MP Bhagwant Mann is seeking re-election from the constituency, which was one of the four seats won by the Aam Aadmi Party in 2014. His opponent, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, is the son of former Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and has been undefeated in his electoral career since winning his first election in 2000. The Congress candidate from this seat is Kewal Singh Dhillon.

Rajasthan

• Pali: BJP’s Union Minister of State for Law and Justice and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs PP Chaudhary will seek a second term against Congress’ Badri Ram Jakhar.
• Jodhpur: BJP’s Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot from the Congress are in the run. Ashok Gehlot has been a five-time MP from Jodhpur.
• Barmer: The BJP dropped four-time sitting MP Colonel Sonaram Chaudhary to pitch Kailash Choudhry against Congress’ Manvendra Singh. Sonaram had defected from the Congress before 2014, before which he was was a three-time MP (1996-2004) from Barmer. Manvendra Singh, who joined the Congress right before the Rajasthan state polls last year, was a BJP MP from 2004-2009, and is the son of former BJP leader Jaswant Singh. This is India’s second-largest constituency in terms of area.
• Jhalawar-Baran: Former CM Vasundhara Raje’s son and four-time MP Dushyant Singh will represent the BJP against Congress’ Pramod Sharma. Sharma was a former BJP leader who defected to the Congress.
• Ganganagar: Sitting BJP MP Nihal Chand will be pitted against Congress’ Bharat Ram Meghwal. Chand was a former Minister of State (various portfolios) in the Modi administration from 2014-2016 and had won in 1996, 1999 and 2004.
• Bikaner: It’s a battle of the Meghwals as BJP’s Arjun Ram Meghwal— the Union Minister of State in Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, and Parliamentary Affairs—will be up against his cousin Madangopal Meghwal, who is contesting on a Congress ticket. While Arjun Ram seeks a third-term in Parliament, Madangopal joined the Congress ahead of the assembly polls. The Congress had last won this seat in 1999.
• Jaipur Rural: BJP’s Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, and Olympic medalist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore will battle Commonwealth Games medalist Krishna Poonia. While Rathore had defeated Congress’ CP Joshi in 2014 with a margin of over three lakh votes, Poonia is the sitting MLA from Sadulpur.

Tamil Nadu

• Tuticorin: A Rajya Sabha member since 2007, DMK’s Kanimozhi will test her fortunes against the BJP’s Tamil Nadu president Tamilisai Soundararajan.
• Dharmapuri: Pattali Makkal Katchi’s sitting MP Anbumani Ramadoss will fight against DMK’s Senthil Kumar and AMMK’s P Pallaniappan. Ramadoss is PMK founder’s son.
• Sivaganga: Congress candidate and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti will battle it out against AIADMK’s H Raja after a failed attempt in 2014. P Chidamabram had held this seat for seven terms until Karti’s loss to AIADMK in 2014.
• Karur: The incumbent deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha and AIADMK’s choice for this seat— M Thambi Durai— will fight Congress’ S Jothimani, who lost the seat in 2014.
• Chennai South: AIADMK’s J Jayavardhan is seeking a re-election. BSP’s R Kumar and DMK’s Thamizhachi Thangapandian are the challengers. Jayavardhan was the the youngest person to be elected to the Lok Sabha, at the age of 26.

Telangana

• Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi will defend his family-held seat in this election. The Owaisi family has held the Hyderabad seat since 1984.
• Nizamabad: One seat, 185 contenders. Nizamabad will see Telangana Rashtra Samithi founder K Chandrashekhar Rao’s daughter Kavitha compete with 179 farmers. The farmers, as a protest against the KCR government, will challenge Kavitha’s re-election bid.

Uttarakhand

• Pauri Garhwal: Congress has chosen ex-Facebook executive Manish Khanduri against BJP’s Tirath Singh Rawat. Khanduri is the son of senior BJP leader BC Khanduri who briefly served as the state’s Chief minister. Rawat was the state’s BJP chief till 2015.

Uttar Pradesh

• Baghpat: The BJP’s incumbent MP and Minister of State for Human Resource Development Satya Pal Singh will contest against Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Chaudhary. Chaudhary’s father is RLD chief Ajit Singh, who lost the 2014 election to Satya Pal Singh but had won the seat six times before that. The Baghpat seat is a bastion dynastical for the Chaudhary family, which was formerly held by Ajit singh’s father and former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.
• Ghaziabad: The BJP has fielded Minister of State for External Affairs and former Army Chief VK Singh, who is the current MP for Ghaziabad.
• Kairana: The communally-sensitive constituency will see Tabassum Hasan contest on a Samajwadi Party ticket. She had wrested the seat from the BJP in a 2018 by-election.
• Mathura: One of the famous Hindu pilgrimage destinations, the BJP’s actress-turned-politician Hema Malini is seeking a second term. Her opponents include Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Anrendra Singh and the Congress’ Mahesh Pathak. The Congress has put up a Brahmin candidate with the hope of eating into the BJP’s upper caste vote base.
• Aligarh: Satish Gautam, the BJP’s sitting MP, was in the news in 2018 for a row over his demand that the Aligarh Muslim University remove a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in Aligarh on April 14 to garner support for Gautam. He faces Ajit Balyan, who hopes to repeat the BSP’s 2009 success. The Congress candidate Brijender Singh won the Aligarh seat in 2004. The seat was a BJP stronghold from 1991 to 2004 when it was represented four times by Sheela Foam Ltd. founder Sheela Gautam.
• Fatehpur Sikhri: The erstwhile Mughal capital will see a fight between Congress’ actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar, BJP’s Rajkumar Chahar, and BSP’s Shribhagwan Sharma. Babbar lost the 2014 election as a Congress contender but had been elected on an SP ticket. Sharma shifted from the SP to the BSP in 2017.
• Unnao: Religious leader and sitting BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj will contest Congress’ Annu Tandon, and Samajwadi Party’s Arun Kumar Shukla. Sakshi Maharaj had famously quipped earlier that he would curse those who don’t vote for him. Tandon had won the seat in 2009.
• Farrukhabad: In a bid to seek re-election, BJP MP Mukesh Rajput will fight Congress leader Salman Khurshid, and Mahagathbandhan’s pick Manoj Agarwal. Khurshid was been the MP from 1991-96, and then from 2009-2014.
• Kannauj: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav seeks a third-term as MP and will fight BJP’s Subrat Pathak. Dimple had won the 2014 poll by just over 20,000 votes against Subrat Pathak. Mulayam Singh Yadav, who won in 1999, gave up the seat for son Akhilesh who won the by-poll in 2000 and went on to represent the seat till 2012 before becoming chief minister. Dimple has represented the seat since then.
• Sitapur: With his eyes on a fourth-term as an MP, Rajesh Verma will fight on a BJP ticket against BSP’s Nakul Dubey, and Congress’ Kaiser Jahan. Verma had won his first two terms in 1999 and 2004 on BSP tickets. Jahan had won the seat as a BSP aspirant in 2009 but lost to Verma in 2014 by more than 51,000 votes.
• Lucknow: Home Minister Rajnath Singh will contest Samajwadi Party’s newest entrant and former actress Poonam Sinha, and Congress’ Acharya Pramod Krishnam. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had represented this seat from 1991 to 2009.
• Rae Bareli: UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is up against former Congress MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh, now a BJP candidate.
• Amethi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi seeks a fourth term from his family bastion and will be up against Union Minister Smriti Irani. The seat has been represented by Rajiv Gandhi for four times, and Sonia Gandhi once. Although Irani lost to Gandhi in 2014, she brought down his vote share from 71.7 percent in 2009 to 46.7 percent in 2014. His victory margin, too, dropped from 3.7 lakh in 2009 to 1.1 lakh in 2014.
• Fatehpur: The other Sadhvi from BJP— Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti— will contest Congress’ Rakesh Sachan, and SP’s Sukhdev Prasad Verma. Sachan had won the 2009 election on an SP ticket.
• Sultanpur: BJP’s Minister of Woman and Child Development Maneka Gandhi will contest Congress’ Sanjay Singh and the BSP’s Chandra Bhadra Singh a.k.a Sonu Singh— a former MLA and a history-sheeter. Gandhi had won from Pilibhit in 2014 while this seat was represented by her son Varun. Sanjay Singh, who was once accused in the murder case of former badminton player Syed Modi, had won from the seat in 2009.
• Azamgarh: Former Samajwadi Party UP CM Akhilesh Yadav will contest against the BJP’s Bhojupiri actor-turned-politician Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua. Akhilesh will contest from the seat his father Mulayam Singh Yadav had won in 2014. Before 2014, the voters of the seat chose Bali Ram and Daroga Prasad Saroj for alternate terms starting 1996.
• Gorakhpur: Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan contested the 2014 election from Jaunpur as a Congress candidate and lost. He joined the BJP in 2017. Gorakhpur is considered to be a BJP bastion, having been won by current Chief Minister Adityanath five times in a row from 1998 to 2014. The Mahagathbandhan won the seat in the by-polls after Adityanath vacated the seat after becoming chief minister. The winning candidate, Praveen Kumar Nishad, defected to the BJP but was not given a ticket.
• Ghazipur: Minister of Telecom and Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha seeks a fourth-term as MP, having won previously in 1996, 1999 and 2014. Up against him is Afzal Ansari, who won the 2004 election from this seat. He also contested in 2009 but lost to the SP candidate. He is also the elder brother of Mukhtar Ansari, who has been convicted in multiple criminal cases.
• Varanasi: With the exception of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, every other candidate who contested against the Prime Minister in 2014, ended up losing his deposit. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's much anticipated electoral debut was quashed when the Congress announced Ajay Rai's candidature against Modi. Rai also contested the 2014 poll and stood third. Rai was earlier a BJP MLA before defecting to the Congress.

West Bengal

• Raiganj: CPI-M’s Mohammad Salim, an incumbent MP from this seat, will be pitted against Congress’ Deepa Dasmunshi. Dasmunshi had lost to Salim in 2014. The BJP, which is seen to be on the rise in West Bengal, has given the ticket to its state unit general secretary Deboshree Chowdhury, who had contested the 2014 polls from Bardhaman–Durgapur. Also in the fray is All India Trinamool Congress’ Kanhaiyalal Agarwal.
• Darjeeling: In the hilly constituency, BJP’s Raju Bista is pitted against TMC’s MLA Amar Singh Rai. Bista has had links with the RSS for over 20 years.
• Baharampur: Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, BJP’s Krishna Arya, and Trinamool Congress’ MLA Apurba Sarkar are in the fray for the seat. Chowdhury, who is the state party chief, has been an MP since 1999. The seat has never voted for either the Left or the TMC and has only elected members of Revolutionary Socialist Party or the Congress.
• Asansol: This seat will see singer-turned-politician and BJP’s pick Babul Supriyo contesting veteran actress and TMC’s Moon Moon Sen. Supriyo is the Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises while Sen is the sitting MP from Bankura. This is one of the three seats won by the BJP in West Bengal in 2014.
• Barrackpur: Former Railway Minister and sitting Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi seeks a third term and will contest BJP’s Arjun Singh. The last two elections were the only instances when the TMC won this seat, for it has only seen the Left and Congress. Singh was the chairman of the Bhatpara Municipality until early April before he was removed via a secret ballot.
• Mednipur: State party chief of the BJP Dilip Ghosh, who is also the sitting MLA from Kharagpur, will take on TMC’s Manas Bhunia— a sitting MP in the upper house. Bhunia defected to the TMC from the Congress in 2016.
• Jadavpur: The Trinamool Congress has fielded famous actress Mimi Chakraborty from the seat where Mamata Banerjee made her electoral debut in 1984. Contesting against her is the current MP from Bolpur and turncoat from the Trinamool itself, Anupam Hazra.
• Barasat: Kakali Ghosh Dastidar of the TMC seeks a third-term as MP from the seat where the BJP increased its vote share to 24 percent in 2014 from 5 percent in 2009. Up against her is the BJP's Mrinal Kanti Debnath.
• Diamond Harbour: Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee seeks re-election from the seat that has produced MPs like the late Jyoti Basu in the past. Banerjee won the 2014 poll by over 70,000 votes. The left has nominated Fuad Halim from the seat while the Nilanjan Roy is the BJP candidate.