From Union ministers Amit Shah, Pralhad Joshi, and Jyotiraditya Scindia to Congress stalwart Digvijaya Singh, to NCP’s (Sharad Pawar faction) Supriya Sule and Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav, the third of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Tuesday will see these key candidates lock horns with their opponents.
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A total of 94 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories will go to polls on May 7 in the third phase of voting. The states and union territories where the elections will be held in the phase are Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Key candidates in Phase 3:
The Election Commission of India announced that 1,351 candidates across 94 seats are in the fray in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. A total of 2,963 nominations were filed, and after scrutiny, 1,563 nominations were found valid. Several key candidates are in the fray in this phase.
1. Amit Shah (Gandhinagar in Gujarat)
Union home minister Amit Shah will be seeking his second term from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, which is considered one of the prestigious bastions for the party, and has been represented by party veterans like Bharat Ratna Lal Krishna Advani. The party is undefeated on the seat since 1989.
Shah is contesting against Congress’ Sonal Patel in the 2024 general elections. In 2019, Shah registered a massive victory after defeating CJ Chavda with a victory margin of 5.55 lakh votes.
2. Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna in Madhya Pradesh)
Civil aviation minister and former Congress leader who switched boat into BJP, leading to a political upheaval in Madhya Pradesh in 2020, is contesting from Guna constituency in Gwalior-Chambal region.
In the 2019 polls, Scindia had lost this seat while contesting on a Congress ticket against BJP’s Krishna Pal Singh. Scindia is contesting against Congress’ Yadvendra Rao Deshraj Singh, this time on a BJP ticket.
3. Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh)
Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, wife of party chief Akhilesh Yadav, will be seeking re-election from Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri, a seat represented by her father-in-law and party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav, which was vacated after the latter’s death in 2023. Dimple won the Mainpuri by-election in December 2022, defeating Raghuraj Singh Shakya of the BJP by a margin of 2,88,461 votes.
Also Read: Lok Sabha polls phase 3 has over 1,350 candidates: Seat with most nominations is…
She is contesting against BJP’s Jaiveer Singh Thakur this time.
4. Supriya Sule (Baramati in Maharashtra)
Baramati, known as the bastion of the ‘Pawar family’, is witnessing a direct contest between three-time sitting MP Supriya Sule, the daughter of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, who has switched over to the BJP-led NDA and became Maharashtra deputy chief minister.
Sharad Pawar first won from Baramati in 1984. In 1991, Ajit Pawar, his nephew won back the constituency. Since 1996, Baramati has been represented first by Sharad Pawar and then by Supriya Sule.
Sule defeated BJP candidate, Kanchan Rahul Kul in 2019 with a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes.
5. Suntera Pawar (Baramati in Maharashtra)
The battle for ‘Pawar’ legacy took an interesting turn when Ajit Pawar decided to field his wife Sunetra against his sister Supriya Sule from Baramati. Suntera comes from a political family — her brother Padamsinh Patil is a senior politician and former minister. She is known for her social work in Baramati.
6. Digvijay Singh (Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh)
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress stalwart Digvijay Singh has made a return to the electoral race from Rajgarh constituency, which is being touted as a hot seat.
Singh, who has termed this his “last election,” is pitted against two-time BJP MP Rodmal Nagar, who was in the constituency that used to be his pocket borough for over three decades.
7. Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh)
The longest-serving chief minister of Madhya Pradesh is contesting from Vidisha after the party gave the state’s baton to a new face, Mohan Yadav, after winning the assembly elections in December last year. Chouhan is pitted against Congress’ Pratap Bhanu Sharma.
8. Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad in Karnataka)
Union minister Pralhad Joshi is seeking re-election from Dharwad constituency in Karnataka. Joshi has been winning the seat since 2004. This time, he is in fray against Vinod Asooti of Congress. Joshi had served as a union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal, and Mines in the Narendra Modi-led NDA II government.
Also Read: Lok Sabha elections phase 3: Schools to remain shut on May 7 in these cities
9. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Baharampur in West Bengal)
Senior Congress leader and incumbent Lok Sabha LoP, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been representing the Congress party from Baharampur for three terms, starting from 2009 to 2019. In 2019, he defeated Apurba Sarkar of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) by over 80,000 votes. This time, he is contesting against BJP’s Nirmal Saha and former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan from TMC.
10. Badruddin Ajmal (Dhubri in Assam)
The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president, Badruddin Ajmal, has been representing the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat since 2009. In 2019, he secured the seat for the third time with over 7.18 lakh votes. He is vying for a fourth term in office. This time, he is in fray against Rakibul Hussain of the Congress party.
Elections 2024:
Lok Sabha elections 2024 are being conducted in seven phases. Voting for the first phase took place on April 19, while that for the second was held on April 26. The third phase of polling is set to be held on May 7 (Tuesday). The results for all the seven phases will be declared on June 4.
