Lok Sabha Elections 2019: 10 seats with the most nail-biting contests!
Lok Sabha elections 2019 look set to go right down to the wire with pollsters shying away from predicting any clear winner, despite forecasting a greater chance for the BJP to form the next government.
Even as the country is witnessing voters coming out to cast their ballots in 543 constituencies from north to south and from east to west, here are some seats where the contest is particularly interesting — our pick of the 10 top seats that need to be keenly watched:
1) Amethi: Smriti Irani vs Rahul Gandhi
The BJP has not won Amethi since 1998 when Sanjay Singh defeated Satish Sharma of the Congress to wrest the seat from the party.
However, Smriti Irani this time stands a good chance of winning the seat, owing to her sustained campaigning in the constituency that has literally been on for the last five years, even after she lost her earlier bid at polls there.
The Congress winning margin on the seat has been steadily going down. In 2009, Gandhi had won the seat by a margin of over 3.70 lakh votes — but in 2014, he defeated Irani only by a margin of 1.07 lakh votes. Rahul Gandhi’s decision to also contest from Wayanad in Kerala is thus being seen as a sign of the party’s nervousness over the possibility of keeping Amethi in its fold.
Despite being a Congress bastion, the BJP managed to win three of the four Assembly seats from Amethi in 2017.
If Irani manages to defeat Gandhi from Amethi, it will be a huge psychological jolt to the Congress.
2) Bhopal: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur vs Digvijaya Singh
Accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur has been introduced in the poll fray by the BJP to fight against veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh from Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal.
Sadhvi Pragya’s candidature is highly controversial, given that she is out on bail.
Alok Sanjar, the current BJP Parliamentarian from Bhopal, said the party fully backed her — and would ensure her victory from the seat.
Singh, meanwhile, was a reluctant entrant in Bhopal as he had expressed a desire to contest from Vidisha. But chief minister Kamal Nath had apparently insisted that Singh contest from Bhopal.
Both Sadhvi Pragya and Digvijaya have been known to make controversial statements. When they start campaigning against each other, it would be gripping to see what they have to say.
3) Lucknow: Rajnath Singh vs Poonam Sinha
Home minister Rajnath Singh looked set for a walkover in Lucknow — until the joint opposition of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) announced Poonam Sinha as their candidate from the constituency. Lucknow is a BJP stronghold since 1991 — a seat from where Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself contested and won until 2009. Rajnath Singh won the seat in 2014.
Poonam Sinha, who joined the SP on April 16, is the wife of actor-turned politician Shatrughan Sinha. She is an actor and a former model. Shatrughan Sinha was part of the BJP until March 2019, despite openly speaking out against the party and even joining the Opposition’s ‘United India Rally’ in January 2019 in Kolkata.
Poonam Sinha, 69, is debuting in politics, unlike her husband, a two-time union minister.
Party leaders say that as a Sindhi married to a Kayastha — the community has a considerable presence in the urban parts of Lucknow — she could make an impact, but she will have to battle the tag of an "outsider".
4) Begusarai: Kanhaiya Kumar vs Giriraj Singh
Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Student Union, was pitchforked into national spotlight in 2016 when he was charged with sedition for allegedly organising an event involving shouting anti-India slogans on campus. Since then, he has become a prominent face of dissent against the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. He is contesting from Begusarai as the candidate of the Communist Party of India.
Kumar is pitted against Giriraj Singh of the BJP and Tanvir Hassan of the RJD.
Singh, 66, a minister in the Modi government and the face of hardline Hindutva in Bihar, is best known for his vitriol against Muslims. Hassan, 62, is a member of the Bihar legislative council, who contested and lost the 2014 election.
Singh in particular was reportedly reluctant to contest from Begusarai and was miffed with the BJP leadership after the Nawada Lok Sabha seat, which he represents, went to the National Democratic Alliance partner Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).
This contest between a young Kanhaiya and an elderly Giriraj Singh is sure to keep pollsters hooked.
5) Rampur: Jaya Prada vs Azam Khan
The contest in Rampur is turning out to be the most savage with BJP candidate Jaya Prada taking on SP's Azam Khan.
Both Khan and Jaya Prada were at one point in the same party — but Khan’s putrid hatred for Jaya Prada reportedly stems from the fact that she belonged to the Amar Singh camp. Khan has been attacking Jaya at every given opportunity, even making the BJP candidate cry publicly.
Not satisfied with the reply on his "khaki underwear" jibe, the Election Commission on Monday had barred him from campaigning for 72 hours, beginning Tuesday morning.
BJP candidate Nepal Singh had won the western UP seat in 2014.
Rampur had elected Jayaprada in 2009 and 2004. Her adversary, Azam Khan — one of the biggest Muslim faces in the state — is a nine-time legislator from the Rampur assembly constituency.
This constituency is being closely watched.
6) Patna Sahib: Shatrughan Sinha vs Ravi Shankar Prasad
The BJP left many political observers surprised when it decided to field Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib because the advocate-politician has never contested a Lok Sabha election. While everyone makes an electoral debut at some stage, it is seldom that someone does so at the age of 64.
The other reason why the contest is going to be a nail-biter is that Prasad is pitted against Sinha — who recently left the BJP and joined the Congress.
Sinha and Prasad have some strong similarities — both are gifted speakers, both belong to the same caste (Kayastha), both are natives of Patna.
7) Mumbai North: Urmila Matondkar vs Gopal Shetty
Having entertained millions with her films, Urmila Matondkar made her political debut in March by joining the Congress. Matondkar has been given a party ticket from Mumbai North, a constituency that actor Govinda had also represented.
Ram Naik, a BJP veteran who is currently the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, held the constituency for five terms.
In 2004, the Congress, in its bid to end the BJP's dominance in the seat, brought in actor Govinda as its candidate. Govinda defeated Ram Naik by 50,000 votes — but Govinda quit politics in 2008. Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam won from the seat in 2009, but in 2014, the seat was won by BJP candidate Gopal Shetty.
It would be interesting to see if having been deserted by a Bollywood star mid-way, the constituency would once again give a chance to someone from the fraternity to represent them.
8) Tuticorin: Tamilisai Soundararajan vs Kanimozhi
The battle for Thoothukudi is what many are looking forward to in the current Lok Sabha polls where Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan is crossing swords with DMK leader and Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi.
Interestingly, the fight is tough between the two women, both daughters of two political leaders.
Kanimozhi is the daughter of late DMK President M Karunanidhi and the sister of current party president MK Stalin.
On the other hand, Soundararajan is the daughter of Congress leader Kumari Ananthan.
The BJP will be banking on the vote transfer of the AIADMK as the party occupies four out of the six constituencies in the district. However, the anti-Sterlite protests — and the subsequent police firing that claimed the lives of 14 people — will prove to be a challenge for the BJP. The protestors blamed the inaction of the ruling governments in the centre and state for the violence that left Tuticorin scarred.
9) Sivaganga: H Raja vs Karti Chidambaram
All eyes will be on Sivaganga in southern Tamil Nadu, where Congress nominee Karti Chidambaram is fighting it out in a triangular contest in the Lok Sabha seat held by his father P Chidambaram seven times since 1984.
A nail-biting finish is expected in view of the tough contest among Karti, BJP national secretary H Raja and the candidate of TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK).
Both Raja and Karti, who are sons of the soil, are parts of big alliances on their respective sides.
While Sivaganga has been a high-profile constituency, it faces water scarcity, infrastructure development and a lack of jobs. And that is why this contest promises to be interesting.
10) Kanyakumari: Pon Radhakrishnan vs H Vasanthakumar
It is going to be a tight battle between two sons of the soil — Pon Radhakrishnan of the BJP and H Vasanthakumar of the Congress — in the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency, the lone seat that the BJP won in 2014 in Tamil Nadu.
Though the electoral arithmetic favours Radhakrishnan, the Union Minister of State for Finance, caste plays an important role in the elections here and could tip the scale in his opponent’s favour.
A cause of disagreement in the area is the controversial Enayam container terminal project. Fishermen in coastal areas could possibly play spoilsport for Radhakrishnan over his Enayam pet project, which they fear will affect the livelihood of over one lakh people.
Follow this space to find out the climax of these big contests!