The seven-week long mammoth election exercise will draw to a close on June 1 as 57 seats in eight states and union territories including Bihar, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal are slated to vote in the last phase of Lok Sabha elections.
A total of 904 candidates will be in the fray including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is contesting from Varanasi – a Lok Sabha constituency he represented since 2014.
Here are some key candidates to watch out for in this phase:
Narendra Modi
The prime minister is contesting from the holy city of Varanasi for the third time. He is up against INDIA bloc’s Ajay Rai, BSP’s Athar Jamal Lari and three independents. In 2014, Modi had won against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal and then defeated his Samajwadi Party rival Shalini Yadav in 2019 by a massive margin of 4.59 lakh votes.
Kangana Ranaut
The BJP has fielded actress-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut from Mandi constituency in Himachal Pradesh, which has been known to be the stronghold of the Virbhadra family. The grand old party has won this seat 12 times since 1952. Kangana is up against Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh, son of the late former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
Abhishek Banerjee
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee from West Bengal’s Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency. The seat has been a stronghold of the TMC for the past few years, in general elections, assembly elections and rural polls in the area. He will be contesting against CPI(M)’s Pratikur Rahaman and BJP’s Abhijit Das. The Congress party is supporting CPI(M)’s candidate.
Misa Bharti
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has fielded Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Misa Bharti from Bihar's Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency. The seat has eluded the Lalu Prasad family since it came into existence after the delimitation exercise in 2008. Misa Bharti faced two successive defeats from this seat in 2014 and 2019 and will be looking to break the jinx this time. She is locked in a keen contest with BJP candidate Ram Kripal Yadav who has won from this seat twice.
Sita Soren
The contest in Jharkhand’s Dumka constituency this time will be an interesting one with the BJP fielding Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law Sita Soren, who switched to the saffron party from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) recently. The seat is currently held by the BJP, which won 11 of the state’s 14 seats in 2019. She is up against JMM veteran Nalin Soren, who is also one of the founding members of the tribal party.
