The Lok Sabha elections 2019 have kicked off, in which voters will choose their favourite candidates for the next parliament. The country’s 2019 general election—like previous contests—will be the largest democratic exercise in world history. More than 850 million voters will be eligible to help determine which political party or alliance will form the government and, in turn, who will serve as prime minister.
The Lok Sabha elections will witness some interesting battles between top candidates from their respective constituencies. While the sitting MPs would be aiming to retain their seats, others are vying to unseat the incumbents and gain hold of that constituency.
Here are top candidates to watch out for this Lok Sabha elections:
Narendra Modi: The Prime Minister will contest elections from Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi. Modi won the seat by a margin of over 3.3 lakh votes, defeating his nearest rival Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. As per the alliance deal between the BSP and Samajwadi Party, Varanasi will be contested by a Samajwadi Party candidate this time. With the Congress yet to reveal its candidate for this constituency, a triangular contest is expected.
Rajnath Singh: Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be contesting from the BJP bastion of Lucknow for the second consecutive time. Rajnath won the last election by a margin of over 2.7 lakh votes. He defeated incumbent Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Ritu Bahuguna Joshi, who was then with the Congress. Lucknow has been with the BJP since 1991 when former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee first won the seat.
Rahul Gandhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be contesting from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala in addition to his Amethi constituency. Rahul first fought from Amethi in 2004 when his mother, Sonia Gandhi, vacated the seat for him. Wayanad, a constituency in north Kerala, was formed post delimitation in 2009. It has a large tribal population and is touted to be a safe seat for the Congress.
Nitin Gadkari: The Union Minister for Road, Transport, and Highways is the BJP candidate from Nagpur. Nitin Gadkari, who had defeated the Congress’s Vilas Muttemwar in the 2014 parliamentary election, is facing BJP rebel Nana Patole, who has been fielded by the Congress this time.
Asaduddin Owaisi: The AIMIM chief is the sitting lawmaker from Hyderabad in Telangana and has held the Lok Sabha constituency since 2004. The AIMIM leader is seeking re-election from Hyderabad for a fourth consecutive term. The parliamentary constituency has been a MIM stronghold for over three decades. His father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi represented the constituency and was elected for six consecutive terms from 1984 to 2004.
Milind Deora: Milind Deora, who was recently appointed as President of Mumbai Congress, was a Member of the 15th Lok Sabha. Deora is the Former Minister of State with the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications and the Former Minister of State with the Ministry of Shipping within the Government of India. He became an MP at the age of 27 after winning the 2004 Lok Sabha polls beating Congress candidate Jaywantiben Mehta with a sizable 10,000 votes from Mumbai South. He was re-elected in 2009 with an even bigger margin of over 1.12 lakh votes.
Karti Chidambaram: Congress has fielded former finance minister P Chidambaram’s son, Karti Chidambaram, from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu. Karti Chidambaram had unsuccessfully contested the Sivaganga seat in 2014 general election. The constituency was earlier represented by his father, P Chidambaram. Incidentally, a Delhi court has extended till March 25 the interim protection to Karti Chidambaram from his arrest as well as that of former Union minister P Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis and INX Media cases filed by the CBI and the ED.
Varun Gandhi: This year he will contest from Pilibhit. Varun Gandhi became the Pilibhit MP in 2009, an office long held by his mother Maneka Gandhi. He contended and won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Sultanpur constituency and Maneka returned to Pilibhit. This time around, BJP is once again fielding Varun from Pilibhit and Maneka will contend from Sultanpur instead.
Hansraj Ahir: Union Minister Hansraj Ahir will contest Chandrapur. He has been four-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and Union minister of state for home. In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Hansraj Ahir beat Deotale Sanjay Wamanrao of CONGRESS by receiving 45.80% per cent of the votes cast in this constituency.
Farooq Abdullah: National Conference (NC) patriarch Farooq Abdullah will contest elections from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. The 81-year-old leader is one of the oldest and influential mainstream politicians in the state, who will be fighting the Lok Sabha elections from Srinagar constituency, comprising Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts. He was earlier elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 and 2009. In 2002, he became a member of the Rajya Sabha and repeated the term in February 2009. He has been the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir thrice in 1982, 1986 and 1996.
