 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Nearly nine crore voters will decide the fate of 674 candidates, including political bigwigs Rajnath Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Smriti Irani, in the fifth phase of polling on Monday in 51 Lok Sabha constituencies in seven states.
The stakes are high for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies as it had swept 40 of these seats in 2014, leaving just two for the Congress and the rest for other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (seven).
Voting will take place in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 12 in Rajasthan, seven seats each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar and four in Jharkhand. In Jammu and Kashmir, polling will take place in Ladakh constituency and Pulwama and Shopian districts of Anantnag seat.
Here are some of the big political leaders' who await their fate on Monday.
>> Rajnath Singh
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is seeking re-election from Lucknow. In 2014, Rajnath had defeated Rita Bahuguna Joshi, then in the Congress, by over two lakh votes. Rajnath is challenged by Samajwadi Party's Poonam Sinha and Congress's Acharaya Pramod.
>> Sonia Gandhi
The United Progressive Alliance chairperson is representing the Rae Bareli seat since 2004. The constituency was once represented by her mother-in-law, former prime minister Indira Gandhi. Sonia is challenged by a former member of her own party fielded by the BJP, Dinesh Pratap Singh.
>> Rahul Gandhi
The Congress president, who is representing Amethi in the Lok Sabha since 2004, is seeking re-election. He is also contesting from Wayanad in Kerala this time, a fact which is exploited by his opponent Smriti Irani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who say that the Gandhi scion is not confident of winning the seat this time.
>> Smriti Irani
Union Minister Smriti Irani is once again contesting from Amethi against Congress president Rahul Gandhi. She lost to Gandhi in 2014 by over one lakh votes. This time she hopes to win the seat.
>> Poonam Sinha
Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha's wife and actor Poonam Sinha is contesting on Samajwadi Party ticket from Lucknow. Poonam Sinha's husband, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is the Congress candidate from Patna Sahib, had joined her last month when she filed her nomination papers. Sonakshi Sinha, her daughter, also took part in a roadshow in the state capital.
>> Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
The Union minister for sports and information and broadcasting is seeking a re-election from Jaipur Rural constituency in Rajasthan. He is challenged by Olympian Krishna Poonia, who is fighting the polls on a Congress ticket.
>> Mehbooba Mufti
The former Jammu and Kahsmir CM is contesting from Anantnag, which she represented from 2014 to 2018 when she became chief minister. Perhaps for the first time a Lok Sabha constituency is voting in three phases. Two assembly segments of Anantnag went to polls in the last two phases. This is the last phase when the remaining two assembly segments will vote.
>> Rajiv Pratap Rudy
The former Union minister is seeking re-election from Bihar's Saran constituency, which was earlier represented by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
>> Jayant Sinha
Union Minister Jayant Sinha, who stoked another controversy on Saturday by calling Jaish-e-Mohammed chief as 'Masood Azhar ji', is seeking a re-election from Jharkhand's Hazaribagh. He is challenged by former MP and Communist Party of India candidate Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta.
>> Arjun Ram Meghwal
The Union minister is seeking a third term from Rajasthan's Bikaner Lok Sabha seat.
>> Shakeel Ahmed
The Congress stalwart chose to contest as Independent from Madhubani seat after disputes with alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal. Ahmed, a former Union minister who has represented Madhubani in the Lok Sabha earlier, had filed his nomination papers in two sets -- as a Congress candidate and as an Independent. He withdrew the former after the party declined his request for allotting the party symbol. He was suspended from the Congress for six years on Sunday.
>> Subodh Kant Sahai
The former Union minister is the Congress candidate from Ranchi, Jharkhand.
>> Arjun Munda
The former Jharkhand chief minister is Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate from Khunti.
>> Krishna Poonia
The Olympian-turned-politician is sitting Congress MLA from Sadulpur in Rajasthan. She is fielded by the party from Jaipur Rural constituency. She is challenging Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.