2024 Lok Sabha Elections: From Nitin Gadkari To Nakul Nath, Check Out The Key Battles In Phase 1 Polls

The Lok Sabha 2024 elections in India are set to unfold between April 19 and June 1, with the first phase kickstarting from Friday. Results are expected to be announced on June 4. During the initial phase, a total of 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will witness contests, featuring the participation of eight Union Ministers, two former Chief Ministers, and one ex-Governor.

Voting is set to take place across multiple states, including all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, five seats in Uttarakhand, two in Arunachal Pradesh, 12 of 25 seats in Rajasthan, five seats in Maharashtra, five seats in Assam, four seats in Bihar, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, eight seats in Uttar Pradesh, three seats in West Bengal, and one seat each in Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, and Chhattisgarh.

Among the prominent candidates in the first phase are eight Union Ministers: Nitin Gadkari, Kiren Rijiju, Sarbananda Sonowal, Sanjeev Baliyan, Jitendra Singh, Bhupendra Yadav, and Arjun Ram Meghwal. Additionally, two former Chief Ministers—Biplab Kumar Deb and Nabam Tuki—are also in the fray.

Let's check out the heavyweight battles in this phase:

Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road and Highways, is all set to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Nagpur. In 2014, Gadkari secured victory over the seven-term MP Vilas Muttemwar by a significant margin of 2.84 lakh votes. He retained the seat in 2019, defeating the current Maharashtra Congress Chief Nana Patole by a margin of 2.16 lakh votes. This time, Gadkari faces a challenge from Congress's Vikas Thakre as he seeks a third consecutive term representing Nagpur.

In the Arunachal West constituency, Union Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju is contesting against Nabam Tuki, the former Chief Minister and current President of Arunachal Pradesh Congress.

Another interesting battle in the North East during phase 1 is between the two Gogoi's in Assam's Jorhat. In the upcoming contest, Gaurav Gogoi, the deputy leader of Congress and son of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, will face off against BJP's Topon Kumar Gogoi.

In the southern region, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, representing Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga constituency, seeks re-election from a seat his father held for seven consecutive terms. He faces competition from BJP's Devanathan Yadav and AIADMK's Xavier Dass.

In a significant electoral shake-up, BJP's State President K Annamalai will be pitted against DMK's Ganapathy P Rajkumar and AIADMK leader Singai Ramachandran in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore.

Historically a Leftist stronghold, Coimbatore has seen dominance by the CPI (M) with seven victories, followed by the Congress with five wins. The DMK has secured victory twice, while the AIADMK managed to clinch the seat only once.

Recently resigned Telangana Governor and Governor of Puducherry Tamilisai Soundararajan is contesting the election on a BJP ticket. Soundararajan will be taking on DMK's T Sumanthy and former AIADMK MP J Jayavardhan for the Chennai South LS seat.

In Madhya Pradesh, it's a contest of survival for the Congress, as the son of Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath is all set for a re-election from Chhindwara. The seat has remained firmly with Kamal Nath, who has won the seat nine times since 1980. In the 2019 polls, BJP bagged 28 seats out of 29, but failed to win Chhindwara. Nath will be contesting against BJP's Vivek Bunty Sahu.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh is eyeing a third consecutive victory in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur. The BJP MP is fielded against Congress's Chaudhary Lal Singh.

Uttar Pradesh will see many big clashes in the upcoming elections—Saharanpur, being one of them. The seat is among the most crucial Lok Sabha ones from Western Uttar Pradesh, that features an interesting battle between Congress-SP alliance Imran Masood, BJP's Raghav Lakhanpal Sharma and BSP's Majid Ali.

Another interesting battle is up in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit, where an ex-Congress loyalist is contesting the elections after joining BJP in a significant political move. BJP has fielded Jitin Prasada, instead of its sitting MP Varun Gandhi, in Pilibhit against SP's Bhagwant Saran Gangwar and BSP's Anees Ahmed Khan.