2019 WINNER:BJP (Meenakshi Lekhi)
KEY CONTENDERS: Bansuri Swaraj (BJP), Somnath Bharti (AAP), Raja Kumar Anand (BSP)
Arguably the most prestigious seat in Delhi, it is likely to witness a tough contest between three-time AAP MLA from Malviya Nagar Somnath Bharti and former Delhi CM and Union minister Sushma Swaraj’s daughter, Bansuri. Congress has not fielded its candidate from New Delhi under the seat-sharing arrangement with AAP.The last two elections saw BJP win the seat by a comfortable margin. But the party replaced sitting MP Meenakshi Lekhi with political greenhorn Bansuri this time. Both Bansuri and Bharti are contesting their maiden Lok Sabha election. This is the only Delhi seat witnessing a threecornered fight with the entry of former Delhi minister Raaj Kumar Anand, who resigned from AAP in April. Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, and several prominent politicians, judges and bureaucrats vote in this parliamentary constituency.
SIRSA
2019 WINNER: BJP (Sunita Duggal)
KEY CONTENDERS: Kumari Selja (Cong), Ashok Tanwar (BJP)
It’s a battle between two former Haryana Congress presidents in Sirsa — Congress candidate Kumari Selja (61) is facing BJP’s Ashok Tanwar (48), who moved from Congress to TMC and AAP before joining the saffron party this year. Selja has represented Sirsa in Lok Sabha twice earlier — 1991 and 1996. Her father Chaudhary Dalbir Singh was a four-time MP (1967, 1971, 1980, 1984) from the constituency. Tanwar too was elected an MP from Sirsa in 2009. Though BJP won by a margin of more than 3 lakh in 2019, it may have a tough time reclaiming the seat, with issues such as unemployment and farmers’ agitation fuelling anti-incumbency. Tanwar, who was with Congress when he lost from Sirsa in 2019, has run into protests while campaigning for this election.
KURUKSHETRA
2019 WINNER: BJP (Nayab Singh Saini)
KEY CONTENDERS: Naveen Jindal (BJP), Sushil Gupta (AAP), Abhay Chautala (INLD)
The land of Mahabharat is witnessing a battle between crorepatis — industrialist-turned politician Naveen Jindal of BJP, AAP’s Haryana chief Sushil Gupta and INLD MLA Abhay Singh Chautala. The constituency, which includes Kurukshetra and Kaithal districts, elected Nayab Singh Saini, who vacated the seat as he was named CM earlier this year. Before him, Jindal represented the constituency in Lok Sabha for a decade (2004-2014) as a Congressman. The industrialist shifted to BJP as soon as INDIA bloc decided to give this seat to AAP, the only Haryana constituency that the party is fighting from. While BJP would need to counter anti-incumbency, Jindal has campaigned on the plank of development he brought to the area when he was MP. AAP hopes to leave its mark in the state, though there may be some resentment among Congress ranks in the area over the seat not being given to them. INLD, which is banking on a revival in Haryana, has a substantial following in the region.
HISAR
2019 WINNER: BJP (Brijendra Singh)
KEY CONTENDERS: Jai Prakash (Cong), Ranjit Singh Chautala (BJP), Naina Singh Chautala (JJP), Sunaina Chautala (INLD)
This Jat heartland is a melting pot of hallmarks that often define Haryana politics – dynasty and turncoats. Sitting BJP MP Brijendra Singh, who quit his IAS job to join politics in 2019, left the saffron camp to join Congress earlier this year. But he didn’t get a ticket as Congress opted for Bhupinder Singh Hooda loyalist Jai Prakash, better known as JP. He started his political career with INLD but switched to Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party. He then joined Congress but contested the 2014 assembly poll as an Independent candidate, and won. In 2019, he went back to Congress. On the other side, BJP promptly nominated Ranjit Singh Chautala, son of former deputy PM Devi Lal, after he stepped down as an Independent MLA and joined the party. The Chautala clan, divided among all political parties in Haryana, has two other members in the fray from Hisar — JJP’s Naina Chautala, sitting MLA and mother of former deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, and INLD’s Sunaina Chautala.
FARIDABAD
2019 WINNER: BJP (Krishan Pal Gurjar)
KEY CONTENDERS: Krishan Pal Gurjar (BJP), Mahender Pratap Singh (Cong), Nalin Hooda (JJP)
BJP’s Krishan Pal Gurjar, also the Union minister of state for power and heavy industries, is eyeing a hattrick from Faridabad, having won the seat twice in a row in 2014 and 2019 after defeating Congress’s Avtar Singh Bhadana both times. This time, Krishan Pal has a formidable opponent in Congress’s Mahender Pratap Singh (79), who is returning to the LS arena. Belonging to the Gurjar community like Krishan Pal, Singh has been in politics for over five decades. He is a five-time MLA and has held several portfolios as a minister in Haryana govt. Against the two heavyweights is JJP’s youth leader Nalin Hooda (36), whose impact on this election is too early to guess. The constituency is dominated by Gurjars, Jats, Punjabis, Brahmins and Meo-Muslims.
TAMLUK
2019 WINNER: TMC (Dibyendu Adhikari)
KEY CONTENDERS: Abhijit Gangopadhyay (BJP), Debangshu Bhattacharya (TMC), Sayan Bannerjee (CPM)
This is one of Bengal’s most closely watched battles. A high court judge, five months short of retirement, resigned from the bench to join BJP and was awarded with a BJP nomination in Tamluk, an Adhikari family fief since 2009. Pitted against him is a 27-year-old debutant who coined Trinamool’s ‘Khela Hobe’ slogan. In their win or their loss, the Abhijit-Gangopadhyay-versus-Debangshu-Bhattacharya battle is set to be a defining point in Bengal politics. BJP has pulled out all stops to ensure Ganguly’s win. Adhikari himself is shouldering Ganguly’s campaign and CM Mamata Banerjee has elevated this contest as a “personal battle” to avenge her “illegal” Nandigram defeat in 2021.
ALLAHABAD
2019 WINNER: BJP (Rita Bahuguna Joshi)
KEY CONTENDERS: Neeraj Tripathi (BJP), Ujjwal Rewati Raman Singh (Cong), Ramesh Singh Patel (BSP)
Some big names like PD Tandon, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Bahuguna, VP Singh, Janeshwar Mishra, MM Joshi and Rewati Raman Singh have represented this seat in the past. BJP won the constituency for the first time in 1996 with MM Joshi, and the veteran went on to make a hat-trick before losing to Rewati Raman of SP in 2004. The battle this time is between two scions — Rewati Raman’s son Ujjwal from Congress, and former UP speaker and Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi’s son Neeraj of BJP. Keshari Nath has represented Allahabad South assembly seat five times. Ujjwal is a former two-time MLA and an ex-minister, and Neeraj, an additional advocate general with UP govt, is making his electoral debut. Like his father, Ujjwal joined SP when he started his political career two decades ago. But he jumped to Congress just before polls were announced. Ramesh Patel of BSP is likely to win a fraction of Kurmi votes but the contest may not be a threecornered fight even then.
PURI
2019 WINNER: BJD (Pinaki Mishra)
KEY CONTENDERS: Sambit Patra (BJP) and Arup Patnaik (BJD)
The Jagannath temple, a 12thcentury shrine and a key identity of Odisha, has become the focal point of politics in the state, particularly in Puri, as Odia Asmita emerges as a crucial poll issue. The temple holds immense significance for the average Odia, making it the centre of gravity in Odisha politics. BJP’s Sambit Patra and former Mumbai commissioner Arup Patnaik are engaged in a fierce battle. The heritage corridor and the “missing key” to the lord’s treasures have surfaced as important poll issues, not only in Puri but across Odisha, during the simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. Patra’s recent gaffe, where he described “Lord Jagannath as devotee of PM Modi” instead of the other way around, has escalated into a major controversy. Sambit had narrowly lost to BJD’s Pinaki Mishra in 2019. BJD has roped in Arup who had lost the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha election last time.
AZAMGARH
2019 WINNER: SP (Akhilesh Yadav), BJP (Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua in bypoll)
KEY CONTENDERS: Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua (BJP), Dharmendra Yadav (SP), Masood Ahmed Ansari (BSP)
Muslims and Yadavs form almost 35% of the voting population, making it a favourite hunting ground for Samajwadi Party’s first family for the past three elections (though patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s nephew Dharmendra lost a bypoll two years ago to Bhojpuri film star Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua). Of the past 20 Lok Sabha elections, including bypolls, a Yadav candidate has won the seat 14 times, and a Muslim candidate three. The seat went to BSP four times as the party managed to consolidate Muslim voters in its favour apart from Dalit voters, who account for 17-18% of the constituency’s population.
Before Nirahua inflicted a shocking defeat on Dharmendra in the 2022 bypoll, BJP had won the seat only once, through local strongman Ramakant Yadav in 2009. This election, protagonists of the 2022 bypoll are back in the fray. Former BSP MLA Guddu Jamali, who had polled nearly 2.6 lakh votes in the 2022 bypoll to facilitate Nirahua’s victory by a margin of 8,000 votes, is now with SP. Apart from his caste, Nirahua is banking on BJP’s development pitch for the region.
