Lok Sabha Election 2024: Narendra Modi, Kangana Ranaut, Manish Tewari among key candidates in final phase

The 2024 general elections held in marathon seven phases will come to an end with voting in 57 Lok Sabha constituencies across seven states and a Union Territory on June 1. Polling will take place for 13 Lok Sabha seats each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand, and single seat of Chandigarh. A total of 904 candidates are in the poll fray across 57 Lok Sabha seats including the high-profile seat of Varanasi from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 7: What's open, what's closed in polling constituencies

Here are some of the key seats/candidates for Phase 7:

Narendra Modi - Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his Lok Sabha debut from the Varanasi seat in 2014 when he defeated his nearest rival Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by over 3.7 lakh votes. Congress's Ajay Rai was a distant third, securing less than 8% of the total votes polled. Modi improved his winning margin in 2019 by securing over 63% of the total votes polled and defeating his nearest rival, Shalini Yadav of Samajwadi Party, by nearly 4.8 lakh votes. While Ajay Rai doubled his votes, the Congress candidate again came third behind Shalini Yadav. Modi is eyeing a third consecutive win from Varanasi with a record margin even as Congress candidate Ajay Rai is backed by the Samajwadi Party as part of the joint efforts of the opposition INDIA bloc.

Afzal Ansari - Ghazipur

Afzal Ansari, who defeated BJP's Manoj Sinha on a BSP ticket in 2019, is again in the poll fray from Ghazipur seat, but as a candidate of Samajwadi Party. Afzal Ansari is the elder brother of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari who died of a cardiac arrest in March but the circumstances of his death are disputed by his family. The BJP has fielded Parasnath Rai to win back the seat while the presence of the BSP’s Umesh Kumar Singh has made the fight triangular.

Ravi Shankar Prasad - Patna Sahib

Former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is seeking re-election from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat, a stronghold of the BJP. Patna Sahib was once represented by then BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha, who lost to Ravi Shankar Prasad in 2019 contesting on a Congress ticket. Sinha is now a TMC MP from Asansol. This time, Congress has fielded former Lok Sabha Speaker Mira Kumar's son Anshul Abhijeet to take on Prasad.

Pawan Singh - Karakat

The BJP had fielded Pawan Singh from Asansol Lok Sabha seat but the Bhojpuri star pulled out from the race after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) targeted candidature over “lewd and uncivilised remarks about Bengali women” in several songs performed by him. Pawan Singh later announced his decision to contest from Karakat Lok Sabha constituency as an independent candidate against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Upendra Kushwaha. Pawan Singh is locked in a triangular battle with CPI’s Raja Ram Singh, a former MLA, and Upendra Kushwaha, who is fighting on the symbol of his latest outfit Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLP). Kushwaha had won the seat in 2014 as NDA nominee. The popular Bhojpuri actor-singer mounted a spirited campaign and drew huge crowds.

Kangana Ranaut - Mandi

The BJP, which lost the Mandi Lok Sabha seat to Congress's Pratibha Singh in 2021 by-election following the death of sitting MP Ram Swaroop Sharma, has fielded Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut to win it back. Ranaut, making her eletoral debut from home state, is up against Vikramaditya Singh, son of Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh and former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Vikramaditya Singh is currently an MLA from Shimla Rural and a minister in the Congress government headed by Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

Manish Tewari - Chandigarh

In Chandigarh, BJP has dropped two-time MP Kirron Kher and opted for Sanjay Tandon to take on Congress nominee and former Union minister Manish Tewari, who currently represents Anandpur Sahib in Lok Sabha. Aam Aam Party (AAP) is backing Manish Tewari in Chandigarh as part of seat-sharing deal with Congress. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi skipped canvassing in the city, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal led a roadshow on Wednesday garnering support for the Congress nominee.