Six big faces to watch out in first phase of polling on Friday

April 18, 2024 16:33

With just a day left for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections to be held on April 19, let us look at the big faces in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA versus the opposition's INDIA bloc.

The Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat will witness a high-stakes battle, with Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai facing DMK leader Ganapathy P Rajkumar and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam AIADMK's Singai Ramachandran.

In his post on X, Annamalai said, "For an honest political change to take place in Tamil Nadu, for youth politics to be born, for equal opportunities to flourish for all, for the pride of Kongu land to be known throughout the country, for Coimbatore to travel on the path of development, I earnestly request all the voters of the Coimbatore Parliament to vote for the lotus symbol."

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, will be eyeing a third straight victory from Maharashtra's Nagpur seat. The seat will witness the contest between senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari and Congress candidate Vikas Thakre, who is currently the Nagpur West MLA. Recently, Nitin Gadkari released 'Vachan Nama' (Manifesto) for the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency. "We plan to open an organic fruits and vegetables and foodgrains market in Nagpur," he said. "I am 101 per cent sure of my victory. This time I will win the election with a very good margin. Given the support of the public, their enthusiasm, the hard work of the party workers, I will try my best to win with a margin of more than 5 lakhs," Gadkari said after his name was announced by the party.

Jitin Prasada, who quit Congress in 2021, is one of the prominent faces of the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections as he replaced two-time MP from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi.

Former Bihar Chief Minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi is contesting the Gaya seat in Bihar. This election holds important political significance for the 79-year-old Manjhi. Gaya has the highest number of 14 candidates contesting the elections. In the 2024 election, the BJP has left the Gaya (reserved) seat for its ally, the Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S).

The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to snatch the lone seat won by the Congress in the 2019 elections, Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.

Nakul Nath, son of former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath is fighting again from the Chhindwara seat against BJP candidate Vivek Bunty Sahu, who had lost to Kamal Nath in the last two assembly polls. The BJP already showed in the recently conducted assembly polls that it has an upper advantage in the Hindi heartland states. In the 2019 elections, Congress leader Nakul Nath got a total of 47.1 per cent of vote share whereas the defeated BJP candidate touched 44.1 per cent.

The Jorhat seat in Assam will decide if the Congress' deputy leader in Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi can make it to the elected house this time too. The Constituency has been seen as a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi's decision to contest the elections from Jorhat, instead of his family's stronghold Kaziranga (erstwhile Kaliabor) -- from where he is sitting MP -- has made the contest interesting.

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