Prashant Baghaye
New Delhi: The trumpet of Lok Sabha elections has sounded. In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the contests in some constituencies of the country are going to be interesting. Especially, the contests in the constituencies from which the major leaders of all the parties are going to fight, are going to be eye-catching. They include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress group leader in Lok Sabha Adhiraranjan Chaudhary.
In the top ten contests in the country, the Varanasi constituency of Uttar Pradesh will have the attention of the entire country. On behalf of the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest the election from this seat, while Uttar Pradesh Congress state president Ajay Rai will stand against him. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting elections for the third time from this seat. In the past, he has won the election from the same constituency with a record number of votes twice. Last time Samajwadi Party candidate Shalini Yadav had contested the elections against Modi. Earlier in 2014, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal had contested the election against Prime Minister Modi. Meanwhile, before Prime Minister Modi, Varanasi seat was held by veteran BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi.
The second important match in the country will be from Wayanad in Kerala. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is going to contest elections from here for the second time. He will face CPI leader and women's rights activist Nee Raja. Ni Raja, General Secretary of CPI D. The king has wives. Since Congress and CPI are both the constituent parties of India Alliance, the country's attention will be on this fight. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi contested the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala in the last Lok Sabha. Among them, Union Minister Smriti Irani defeated him from Amethi. After that once again Rahul Gandhi will contest election from Wayanad.
After Wayanad, the third eye-catching contest is Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from this place. Congress has fielded Sonal Patel Dutt, former co-incharge of Maharashtra Congress, against him. Meanwhile, Amit Shah had won this election with a record margin of votes last time too.
Amethi was considered a Congress stronghold till 2019. Between 2004 and 2019, Rahul Gandhi represented Amethi in Parliament. Before that, his uncle Sanjay Gandhi, father Rajiv Gandhi also represented Amethi. However, in 2019, Rahul Gandhi lost from this constituency. Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019 and again in 2024 Lok Sabha election Smriti Irani is BJP candidate from Amethi. This is Irani's third Lok Sabha election from this constituency. However, there is still no clarity about who will contest against Smriti Irani from Amethi. Like the last time, many discussions are going on whether Rahul Gandhi will again contest from two constituencies and from Uttar Pradesh only from Amethi. However, no candidate has been given on behalf of Congress so far. Yet the Lok Sabha in Amethi is one of the most eye-catching Lok Sabhas in the country.
Like Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency is also considered a Congress stronghold. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi represented Rae Bareli for the past few years. However, a few months ago, Sonia Gandhi was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. Therefore, there are occasional discussions that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi may contest the election from their seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha. But BJP along with Congress has not announced the candidate from this constituency yet.
Baramati Lok Sabha Constituency in Maharashtra is also going to attract attention in the country this time. Earlier, Supriya Sule, the leader of the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, represented this Lok Sabha constituency three times. However, a year ago there was a split in the NCP party in Maharashtra. After that, Ajit Pawar group joined Maha Yuti. Although Mahayuti has not announced a candidate against Supriya Sule so far, the name of Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar is in discussion. So there is a possibility of a Nanand-Bhavjay fight between Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar. BJP is determined to win this Lok Sabha constituency in any situation. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with many BJP leaders have also visited this place in the past.
Another eye-catching battle in the country is Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh. Congress was in power in Chhattisgarh. However, the Congress lost power in the assembly elections held a few months ago. After this, Congress has fielded former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in the Lok Sabha arena from Rajnandgaon. BJP's Santosh Pandey is standing against him. Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha Constituency is considered as BJP's stronghold. BJP has won this seat continuously since 2009 and Congress has directly fielded the former Chief Minister. So this fight is also going to be interesting.
Another important constituency in Kerala along with Wayanad is Thiruvananthapuram. Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, an important face for the Congress, is contesting from Thiruvananthapuram. BJP has fielded the current Union Information and Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar against him. CPI has also nominated Pannyan Ravindran from this constituency. So the fight here is going to be three-way. Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor will try to win from this constituency once again, while BJP will try to open its account here. Meanwhile, Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, the group leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha from the Bahrampur constituency of West Bengal, is in the arena of the Lok Sabha. Cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who once dominated the cricket field against him, has been nominated by the Trinamool Congress. Adhiraranjan Choudhary is the Bengal regional president of the Congress and is the group leader in the Lok Sabha. Since 1999, he has been representing Bahrampur in Parliament consecutively. On one hand, Adhiraranjan Chaudhary will try to get elected for the sixth time, while Trinamool Congress will try to win this seat through Yusuf Pathan.
The battle for the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency in the capital Delhi is also going to be very interesting. Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of late BJP leader and former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, will be contesting on this seat held by BJP. In the last two Lok Sabhas, the sitting Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi had won this seat. Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti has announced his candidacy against Bansuri Swaraj in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Congress will also support him. Meanwhile, veteran leaders like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, veteran BJP leader LK Advani, Jagmohan Malhotra have been elected to the Lok Sabha from this place.
