Voting has begun for the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections, one of the most bitterly fought in recent memory, which will see 59 constituencies, including Varanasi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking to retain the seat, vote to elect their representatives. Here is a look at the key battles for watch out as India enters the last leg of elections:
Narendra Modi vs Ajay Rai vs and Shalini Yadav
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a second term in Varanasi from where he won the 2014 election by a huge margin. Modi, who is banking on his pro-development agenda, is pitched against Congress’ Ajay Rai, who finished third in 2014 with only 75,000 votes. The opposition gathbandhan of Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's BSP also has its own candidate in Shalini Yadav, daughter-in-law of a former Congress lawmaker.
Ravi Shankar Prasad vs Shatrughan Sinha
Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who switched sides from the BJP to the Congress, will lock horns with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in Bihar's Patna Sahib. Sinha, who has represented the seat for a decade, was upset when he was snubbed by the BJP and Prasad was picked as its candidate. As he moved to the Congress, Sinha launched a scathing attack on the BJP, calling it a “one-man party and two-man army”. He also ruffled many feathers in the Congress after his controversial comments on Mohammed Ali Jinnah and when he campaigned for his wife Poonam who contested from Lucknow on a Samajwadi Party ticket, though the Congress has also fielded its candidate from there.
Kirron Kher vs Pawan Bansal
Chandigarh witnesses a triangular contest today where the BJP has fielded its sitting lawmaker, actor Kirron Kher. Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is the Congress candidate in Chandigarh which has 6.20 lakh voters. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded former Union minister Harmohan Dhawan, a rebel BJP lawmaker who had supported Kirron Kher in the previous Lok Sabha election.
Sunny Deol vs Sunil Jakhar
Bollywood actor Sunny Deol is BJP’s pick in Gurdaspur seat. The 62-year-old is the third Deol to join politics — and the BJP — after his father Dharmendra and stepmother Hema Malini. The actor’s campaign in Punjab saw massive support, with him banking on recreating scenes from his hit films to wow crowds. The actor-turned-politician is pitted against state Congress chief and sitting lawmaker Sunil Jakhar, the son of former Congress leader Balram Jakhar. Gurdaspur has traditionally been a BJP stronghold. It was represented four times by actor Vinod Khanna, who died in April 2017.
Ravi Kishan vs Rambhual Nishad vs Madhusudan Tripathi
Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan is the BJP candidate in Gorakhpur, the stronghold of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The BJP, which lost Gorakhpur to the SP-BSP alliance in the by-election last year is hoping to win it back. He is pitted against the Congress's Madhusudan Tripathi and Rambhual Nishad of the Samajwadi Party. Gorakhpur was represented by Yogi Adityanath in the Lok Sabha from 1998 to 2017, before he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
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