2024 Lok Sabha elections: Notable candidates and crucial contests

Here are the prominent candidates running in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA against the opposition’s India alliance in the first round of voting for the Lok Sabha elections.

In a high-stakes contest for the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu, state BJP president K Annamalai will take on DMK leader Ganapathy P Rajkumar and AIADMK leader Singai Ramachandran.

The BJP is making a strong effort to strengthen its position in South India, as seen by the candidacy of its state president for Tamil Nadu.

Parties with devoted supporters that are very significant in Tamil Nadu, such as the DMK and AIADMK, pose a serious threat to Annamalai.

On X, Annamalai wrote, “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.” From Maharashtra’s Nagpur parliamentary constituency, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari would be aiming for a third consecutive win. Senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari and Congress contender Vikas Thakre, the incumbent Nagpur West MLA, will compete for the seat.

‘Vachan Nama’ (Manifesto) for the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat was just issued by Nitin Gadkari.

“We plan to open an organic fruits and vegetables and foodgrains market in Nagpur,” he said.

“I have a 100% confidence in winning. I’m going to win this election by a wide majority. After the party revealed his name, Gadkari said, “I will try my best to win with a margin of more than 5 lakhs given the support of the public, their enthusiasm, and the hard work of the party workers.”

With an overwhelming 55.7% of the vote, Nitin Gadkari won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. With a winning margin of 2,16,009 votes, he beat Nana Patole, the president of the Maharashtra Congress currently in office.

One of the well-known candidates in the first round of the Lok Sabha elections is Jitin Prasada, who left the Congress in 2021, to take the seat of two-term Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi.

In the last two Lok Sabha elections, the BJP proved to have a strong majority in Uttar Pradesh by winning the majority of seats. One of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, Pilibhit, is set to hold elections on Friday. From Pilibhit, the political contestants are Jitin Prasada of the BJP, Bhagwat Saran Gangwar of the Samajwadi Party (SP), and Anis Ahmed Khan of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). In the 2004 Shahajahanpur seat election and the 2009 Dharura seat election, the BJP’s Prasada won both times.

In Pilibhit, BJP leader Feroze Varun Gandhi won a noteworthy mandate with 704,549 votes, or 59.4% of the total votes cast in the 2019 elections.

With 14 candidates this time around, the Gaya seat in Bihar is the most competitive and is being contested by former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. The 79-year-old Manjhi has significant political stakes in this race.

The BJP has allocated its reserved seat in Gaya to its partner, the Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S), for the 2024 election. In the race for the RJD, Jitan Ram Manjhi is running against Kumar Sarvjeet, a former minister. Former member of parliament for JD (U) Vijay Kumar, also known as Vijay Manjhi, held the seat.

The JD (U) candidate beat Manjhi in the most recent Lok Sabha election by a margin of more than 1.52 lakh votes. In the last election, Manjhi’s HAM was a member of a large coalition. “Everyone is shouting, ‘Abki baar 400 paar,’ wherever we go.” Individuals themselves are declaring that PM Modi will get their votes. We see no obstacles,” Manjhi said.

In the meanwhile, the BJP is doing all in its power to seize the lone seat that the Congress won in the 2019 elections in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh. Son of former chief minister Kamal Nath, Nakul Nath is contesting Vivek Bunty Sahu of the BJP from the Chhindwara constituency. Vivek Bunty Sahu lost to Kamal Nath in the last two assembly elections. In the state’s Hindi heartland, the BJP has already shown its superiority in the most recent assembly elections.

Congressman Nakul Nath received 47.1% of the vote overall in the 2019 elections, whereas the BJP candidate who lost only received 44.1%. There are 29 Lok Sabha seats available to Madhya Pradesh. Following the submission of the nomination papers, Nakul Nath said, “I have full faith that the people of Chhindwara will give their love and blessings to me again.”

Gaurav Gogoi, the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, will also be determined by the Jorhat seat in Assam if he is to be elected to the legislature this time around. The BJP is thought to have a dominance in this seat.

The battle has been unusual, however, since Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi chose to run for office in Jorhat rather than Kaziranga (formerly Kaliabor), the home of his family, where he now serves as an MP.

Gaurav Gogoi will challenge the current Member of Parliament, Topon Kumar Gogoi. Topon received 5,43,288 votes in the 2019 elections, whereas Sushanta Borgohain, a candidate for Congress, received 4,60,635 votes.