New Delhi: The first phase of the 18th Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will be held on April 19 (Friday). Voters in 102 Lok Sabha constituencies in 21 states and Union Territories will participate in the largest festival of democracy in the world. All 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, 12 in Rajasthan, 8 in Uttar Pradesh, 6 in Madhya Pradesh, 5 each in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Assam, 4 in Bihar, 3 in West Bengal, 2 each in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Manipur and 1 each in Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Jammu and Kashmir. Results for all seats will be declared on June 4.
Several key candidates are fighting the poll battle in the first phase. In Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) Dayanidhi Maran, TR Baalu, A Raja, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Congress candidates Manickam Tagore, Karti P Chidambaram, S Jothimani and Vijay Vasanth are in the fray. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) K Annamalai, L Murugan, Tamilisai Soundararajan, TR Paarivendhar, Pon Radhakrishnan and Nainar Nagendran are also trying to open the saffron party’s account from the southern state. In 2019, the BJP failed to get any seats from Tamil Nadu. Other important candidates include TTV Dhinakaran (AMMK), O Panneerselvam (Independent), K Krishnasamy (AIADMK), J Jayavardhan (AIADMK), Durai Vaiko (MDMK) and Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK).
In Rajasthan, BJP’s Arjun Ram Meghwal, Rao Rajendra Singh, Ramswaroop Koli, Devendra Jhajharia and Jyoti Mirdha are some of the key candidates. Govind Ram Meghwal, Rahul Kaswan, Brijendra Singh Ola and Pratap Singh Khachariyawas of Congress and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party’s (RLP) Hanuman Beniwal are also in the fray.
Uttar Pradesh will also witness a high-octane contest in the first phase with 8 seats including Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur and Moradabad voting on April 19. Sanjeev Balyan (BJP), Harendra Singh Malik (SP), Imran Masood (SP), Ruchi Veera (SP), Jitin Prasada (BJP) and Chandra Shekhar Azad (ASP-KR) are some of the key candidates. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP’s Faggan Singh Kulaste and Himadri Singh and Congress party’s Nakul Nath and Kamleshwar Patel are some of the important candidates who are trying to enter the Lok Sabha.
Other key candidates in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections are Nitin Gadkari (BJP), Sudhir Mungantiwar (BJP), Pratibha Suresh Dhanorkar (Congress), Trivendra Singh Rawat (BJP), Anil Baluni (BJP), Virender Rawat (Congress), Ranjit Dutta (BJP), Sarbananda Sonowal (BJP), Gaurav Gogoi (Congress), Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM), Vivek Thakur (BJP), Shravan Kushwaha (RJD), Arun Bharti (LJP-RV), Kiren Rijiju (BJP), Nabam Tuki (Congress), Nisith Pramanik (BJP), Biplab Kumar Deb (BJP), Arumugam Namassivayam (BJP), Agatha K Sangma (NPP), Chaudhary Lal Singh (Congress), Dr Jitendra Singh (BJP), V Vaithilingam (Congress) and Kawasi Lakhma (Congress). In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP-led NDA won 48 of these 102 seats (BJP 40, LJP 2, AIADMK 1, Shiv Sena 1, RLP 1, JDU 1, NDPP 1 and NPP 1). The Congress-led UPA won 42 seats (Congress 15, DMK 24, VCK 1, IUML 1 and NCP 1), Other parties won 12 seats (BSP 3, SP 2, CPM 2, CPI 2, NPF 1, MNF 1 and SKM 1).