Elections are festivals of democracy. India has been under the throes of Lok Sabha election for the last one month beginning from April 7. Islamic Voice brings to its readers profile of contests and contestants in some high-profile constituencies across the country. By no means it is a complete list of all the key contests. The diversity of parties, their affiliations to the broader alliances, flavour of regional politics is so bewildering that it is impossible to capture the essence of the entire exercise.
We have gathered the profiles of the contests in nearly 80 constituencies across the states trying to etch to relief the persona of the candidates, their importance and affiliations with the parties and persons in positions of power, posts held in the past and nature of the contests which in most cases are more than triangular. Candidates have been picked up in terms of the importance of the party in regional context or the person himself. Since the exercise is spread over nearly 45 days, it was not possible to figure out the shape of contest in several states where nomination process will not be complete even till we went to the press on April 25. In sync with the nature of the magazine, some emphasis has been given to constituencies where Muslim presence is sizeable.
Andhra Pradesh
Medak: Chandrashekhar Rao of TRS vs. Narendranath of BJP vs. Shravan Kumar Reddy of Cong.
(Rao is president of the Telengana Rajya Sangharsh Samiti)
Hyderabad: Assaduddin Owaisi of MIM vs. Bhagwanth Rao of BJP vs. Krishna Reddy of Cong.
(Owaisi is representing the seat for the last four terms. Of the 14 lakh voters, around 9 lakh are Muslims.)
Malkajgiri: Sarve Satyanarayana of Cong. Vs. Mallareddy of TDP vs. Dinesh Reddy of YSR Congress vs. P. V. Sudhakaran of AAP
(It is the largest LS constituency with nearly 30 lakh voters. Satyanarayana is union minister in outgoing UPA govt., Dinesh is former DGP, Sudhakaran is son of former PM, P. V. Narasimha Rao)
Secunderabad: Bandadaru Dattatreya of BJP vs. Anjan K. Yadav of Cong. Vs. Narla Mohan Rao of MIM. (Dattatreya is veteran BJP leader)
Rajampet: D. Purandeshwari of BJP vs. A. Sai Pratap of Cong. Vs. Mithun Reddy of YSR Congress
(Purandeshwari, a minister in UPA Govt. quit Congress immediately before elections. Pratap is six time winner from the seat)
Assam
Barpeta: Sirajuddin Ajmal of AIUDF vs. Chandra Mohan Patowary of BJP vs. Ismail Hossain of Cong. (It is Muslim dominant constituency)
Dhubri: Anowar Hussain of AGP. Vs. Zesmina Khatun of Trinamool Cong. Vs. Debomoya Sanyal of BJP. (It is a Muslim majority constituency.)
Bihar
Ara: R. K. Singh of BJP vs. Meena Singh of JDU vs. Bhagwansingh Khshwaha of RJD.
(R. K. Singh retired as Union Home Secretary. He had stopped Mr. Advani’s rath yatra in Samastipur in Bihar in 1991)
Madhubani: Abdul Bari Siddiqui of RJD vs. Hukumdeo Narain Singh of BJP.
(Siddiqui is senior leader of RJD as is related to the family of Jayaprakash Narain)
Sasaram: Meira Kumar of Cong. Vs. Chhedi Paswan of BJP vs. K P Ramaiah of JDU vs. Geeta Arya of AAP
(Meira is Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Ramaiah quit IAS recently and Paswan is former MP)
Kishenganj: Maulana Asrarul Haq vs. Dilip Kumar Jaiswal of BJP. (Haq is leader of the Jamiatul Ulema Hind)
Bhagalpur: Shahnawaz Hussain of BJP vs. Sureshkumar of RJD, Abu Qaisar of JDU, Naushaba Khanum of BSP
(Shahnawaz is former Union minister and was the youngest minister in Vajpayee cabinet)
Darbhanga: Md. Ali Ashraf Fatimi of RJD vs. Kirti Azad of BJP vs. Sanjay Jha of JDU
(Kirti Azad is former cricketer of Indian team)
Patna Sahib: Shatrughan Sinha of BJP vs. Kunal Singh of Cong. Vs. Gopal Prasad Sinha of JDU vs. Parveen Amanulla of AAP
(Shatru is Bollywood actor, Kunal is Bhojpuri film actor, Parveen is daughter of former diplomat Syed Shahabuddin and recently quit JDU ministry in Bihar)
Madhepura: Sharad Yadav of JDU vs. Pappu Yadav of RJD
(Yadav has been winning the seat for the last four times)
Katihar: Tariq Anwar of NCP vs. Nikhil Kumar Chowdhury of BJP
(Chowdhury is sitting MP and Tariq is minister in outgoing UPA govt.)
Araria: Tasleemuddin of RJD vs. Pradeep Kr. Singh of BJP
(Pradeep is sitting MP)
Chhattisgarh
Korba: Mahant Charandas of Cong. Vs. Bansilal Mahato of BJP
(Mahant was a deputy minister in outgoing UPA govt and one who ordered digging for gold in Unnao following a priest’s dream)
Delhi (Union Territory)
Chadini Chowk: Kapil Sibal of Cong. Vs. Ashuthosh of AAP vs. Harsh Vardhan of BJP
(Kapil Sibal is Union HRD Minister in the outgoing UPA Ministry)
New Delhi: Ajay Maken of Cong. Vs. Ashish Khetan of AAP vs. Meenakshi Lekhi of BJP
(Lekhi is BJP spokesperson.)
North West Delhi: Dr. Udit Raj of BJP vs. Krishna Tirath of Cong. Vs. Rakhi Birla of AAP
(Dr. Udit Raj is a Dalit leader who joined the BJP recently after having run an anti communalism campaign for a decade)
Chandigarh (Union territory)
Chandigarh: Kirron Kher of BJP vs. Pawan Kumar Bansal of Cong. Vs. Gul Panag of AAP
(Kher is film personality. Bansal was railway minister in UPA Govt. Gul Panag is former Miss India)
Gujarat
Vadodara: Narendra Modi of BJP vs. Madhusudan Mistry of Cong.
(Narendra Modi is Gujarat chief minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.)
Gandhinagar: L. K. Advani of BJP vs. Ishvarbhai Patel of Cong. Vs. Rituraj Mehta of AAP
(BJP veteran leader Advani has represented the seat for five times)
Bharuch: Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai of BJP vs. Jayesh Kaka of Cong.
(It is the only seat with a sizeable Muslim voters, around 25%)
Haryana
Rohtak: Deependra Singh Hooda of Cong. Vs. Om Prakash Dhankar of BJP vs. Shamsher Kharka of INLD
(Hooda is son of Haryana CM Bhoopinder Singh Hooda)
Gurgaon: Yogendra Yadav of AAP vs. Zakir Hussain of INLD vs. Indrajeet Singh Rao of BJP vs. Dharampal of Cong.
(Yadav is AAP president and its chief ideologue. Only constituency with around 25% Muslim voters.)
J and K
Ananthanag: Mehbooba Mufti of PDP vs. Mirza Mehboob Baig of National Conference vs. Mushtaq Malik of BJP
(Mufti is former CM of Jammu and Kashmir while Baig is sitting MP)
Udhampur: Gulam Nabi Azad of Cong. Vs. Dr. Jitendra Singh of BJP vs. Arshad Malik of PDP
(Azad is Health Minister in the outgoing UPA govt.)
Srinagar: Farooq Abdullah of NC vs. Tariq Hameed Karra of PDP vs. Dr. Muzaffar Bhat of AAP
(Farooq is Minister for Non-Renewable Energy in outgoing UPA Govt.)
Jharkhand
Godda: Furkan Ansari of Cong. Vs. Nishikant Dubey of BJP
(Dubey is sitting MP)
Karnataka
Bangalore Central: Rizwan Arshad of Cong. Vs. P C Mohan of BJP
(Arshad was twice elected State Youth Congress President)
Bangalore North: Sadananda Gowda of BJP vs. Abdul Azim of JDS and Narayanaswamy of Cong.
(Sadananda is former CM of Karnataka)
Bangalore South: Ananthkumar of BJP vs. Nandan Nilekeni of Congress
(Ananthkumar is former union minister while Nilekani is former CEO of IT company Infosys)
Haveri-Gadag (Karnataka) : Saleem Ahmed of Cong. Vs. C.M. Udasi of BJP vs. Ravi Senakai of JDS
Chikaballapur (Karnataka): Veerappa Moily of Cong. Vs. Kumaraswamy of JDS Bachchegowda of BJP
(Moily and Kumaraswamy are both formers CMs of Karnataka)
Shimoga (Karnataka): B. S. Yeddyurappa of BJP vs. Geeta Shivrajkumar of JDS vs. Manjunath Bhandari of Cong.
(Yeddyurappa is former CM of Karnataka and Geeta is daughter of late CM Bangarappa’s daughter)
Bidar (Karnataka): N. Dharamsing of Cong. Vs. Mallikarjuna Khuba of BJP
Hassan (Karnataka): H. D. Devegowda of JDS vs. C. H. Vijayshankar of BJP vs. A. Manju of Cong.
(Devegowda is former prime minister of India)
Kerala
Trivandrum: Shashi Tharoor of Cong. Vs. Bennet Abraham of CPM vs. O. Rajagopal of BJP vs. Ajit Joy of AAP
(Tharoor is minister in the outgoing UPA ministry. Rajagopal is former union minister. Joy is a former IPS officer.)
Malappuram: E. Ahamed of IUML vs. Saniaba of CPM vs. Sreeprakash of BJP
(Ahamed is a union minister in outgoing UPA govt.)
Ponnani: E. T. Md. Basheer of IUML vs. Abdurahman of CPM vs. Narayan Master of BJP
(Basheer is sitting MP)
Wayanad: M. I. Shanawas of Cong. Vs. Abdulsageer of AAP vs. Rasmilnath of AAP
(Shanawas is sitting MP)
Kasaragod: Karunakaran of CPM vs. T. Siddique of Cong.
(Karunakaran is sitting MP)
Lakshwadeep (Union Territory)
Lakshdweep (Islands):
Hamdullah Sayeed of Cong. Vs. Abdul Muneer of CPIM vs. A. Najmudheen of CPI
(Hamdullah is sitting MP. There is not tie-up in Left parties here. Voters number only 44,000)
Maharashtra
Akola: Hidayat Patel of Cong. Vs.
(Akola is the only seat in Maharashtra where Congress has fielded a Muslim candidate.)
Gondia: Praful Patel of NCP vs. Nana Patole of BJP.
(Praful is Heavy Industries Minister in the outgoing UPA Government).
Nanded: Ashok Chavan of Cong. Vs. D. B. Patil of BJP
(Chavan is former Maharashtra CM who was made to quit in the wake of Adarsh Housing scam)
Baramati: Supriya Sule of NCP vs. Mahadev Janka of BJP
(Supriya is daughter of Sharad Pawar)
Nashik: Chhagan Bhujbal of NCP vs. Vijay Pandhare of AAP vs. Pradeep Pawar of the Shiv Sena.
(Bhujbal is PWD minister in Maharashtra cabinet)
Solapur: Shushil Kumar Shinde of Cong. Vs. BJP candidate
(Shinde is Union Home Minister in outgoing UPA Ministry)
Nagpur: Nitin Gadkari of BJP vs. Vilas Muttemwar of Cong. Vs. Anjali Damania of AAP
(Gadkari is former president of BJP)
Mumbai South: Milind Deora of Cng. Vs. Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena vs. Meera Sanyal of AAP
(Deora is minister in the outgoing UPA Govt at the Centre)
Mumbai North East: Medha Patkar of AAP vs. Sanjay Patil of NCP vs. Kirit Somaya of BJP
(Patkar is Narbada Andolan activist)
Mumbai North Central: Priya Dutt of Cong. Vs. Poonam Mahajan of BJP
(Priya is daughter of film actor Sunil Dutt and Nargis Dutt and Poonam is daughter slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan)
Madhya Pradesh
Vidisha: Sushma Swaraj of BJP vs. Laxman Singh of Cong.
(Sushma is veteran BJP leader.)
Guna: Jyotiradiya Scindia of Cong. Vs. BJP candidate
(Scindia is Minister in outgoing UPA Govt. Laxman is brother of Digvijay Singh)
Chhindwara: Kamal Nath of Cong vs. BJP candidate
(Kamal Nath is a minister in the outgoing UPA cabinet)
Tamil Nadu
Mayiladuthurai: Mani Shankar aiyer of Cong. Vs. Bharati Mohan of AIADMK vs. Haider Ali of MNMK (supported by DMK).
(Aiyer is former diplomat and was Petroleum Minister till 2010)
Nilgiris: A. Raja of DMK vs. AIADMK candidate
(Raja is a former union minister and accused in several scams)
Dharmapuri: Anbumani Ramadoss of PMK vs. V. Ramamurhty of Cong. Vs. Thamaraiselvan of DMK vs. Suganathan of AIADMK
(Anbumani is son of PMK leader Ramadoss and a former union minister)
Thanjavur: T. R. Baalu of DMK vs. AIADMK
(Baalu is closely associated with DMK President Karunanidhi’s family)
Central Chennai: Dayanidhi Maran of DMK vs. AIADMK
(Maran is a former union minister and is grand nephew of Karunanidhi)
Sivaganga: Karthi Chidambaram of Cong. Vs. R. P. Senthilnathan of AIADMK vs H. Raja of BJP (Karthi is son of Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. Raja is a chartered Accountant)
South Chennai: Dr. Jeyaverdan of AIADMK vs. E. K. S. Elangovan of DMK vs. S. V. Ramani of Cong.
(Elangovan is prominent leader of DMK)
Vellore: B. Sengattuvan of AIADMK vs. Abdul Rahman of IUML vs. Vijai Elanchezhian of Cong. (Abdul Rahman is sitting MP)
Ramanathapuram: Anwar Raajhaa of AIADMK vs. Md. Jaleel of DMK vs. Kuppuramu of BJP vs. Thirunavukaarasu of Cong.
(Shivakumar of DMK is sitting MP)
Punjab
Amritsar: Arun Jaitley of BJP vs. Capt. Amrinder Singh of Congress
(Jaitley is senior leader of BJP and Amrinder is former CM of Punjab)
Bhatinda: Manpreet Singh Badal of People’s Party of Punjab vs. Harsimrat kaur Badal of Akali Dal (Manpreet Badal who resigned as finance minister of Parkash Singh Badal ministry, is supported by Congress and CPI. He is brother-in law of Harsimrat Kaur)
Patiala: Praneet Kaur of Cong. vs. Deepinder Singh Dhillon of Akali Dal
(Praneet is Union Minister of State for External Affairs and wife of former CM Capt. Amarinder Singh)
Rajasthan
Barmer: Jaswant Singh (Ind.) vs. Sonaram Chaudhury of BJP vs. Harish Chaudhury of Cong.
(Jaswant Singh was finance minister in the NDA Govt. and was denied the BJP ticket)
Ajmer: Sachin Pilot of Cong. vs. Sanwarlal Jat of BJP
(Sachin Pilot is Union Minister and Rajasthan Congress chief. Sanwarlal is currently minister in Vasundhara Raje cabinet.)
Jalore: Buta Singh, Independent vs.
(Buta Singh is a former union minister and has recently deserted the Congress)
Jodhpur: Chandresh Kumari Katoch of Cong. Vs. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat of BJP vs.
(Katoch is was a minister in the outgoing UPA Ministry at the Centre)
Tonk: Mohammad Azharuddin of Cong. Vs. Sukhbir Sing Jaunpuria of BJP
(Azharuddin former captain of Indian cricket team and sitting MP from Muradabad in UP)
Alwar: Bhanwar Jitendra of Cong. Vs. Mahant Chandnath of BJP
(Jitendra was a minister in UPA Govt and Mahant is confidant of Baba Ramdev and is scam-tainted.)
Uttarakhand
Haridwar: Renuka of Cong. Vs. Pokhariyal Nishank of BJP
(Renuka is wife of CM Harish Rawat and Nishank is former CM of Uttarakhand)
Nainital-Uddhamsing Nagar: B. S. Koshiyari of BJP vs. K. C. Singh Baba of Cong.
(Koshiyari is a former CM and Baba is sitting MP)
Uttar Pradesh
Varanasi (UP): Narendra Modi of BJP vs. Ajai Rai of Cong. Vs. Arvind Kejriwal of AAP
(Mr. Narendra Modi is prime ministerial candidate of the BJP. Kejriwal is former CM of Delhi and leader of Aam Aadmi Party)
Farrukhabad (UP): Salman Khurshid vs. Rameshwar Yadav of SP.
(Salman Khurshid is Minister for external affairs in the outging ministry)
Mainpuri (UP): Mulayam Singh Yadav of SP vs. S. S. Chauhan of the BJP
(Mulayam is former CM of UP and head the Samajwadi Party currently ruling UP.)
Phulpur (UP): Mohammad Kaif of Cong. vs. Keshav Maurya of BJP vs. Kapil Muni of BSP.
(Kaif is a former cricketer of the Indian team)
Moradabad: Noor Bano of Cong. Vs. Haji Yakub qureshi of BSP vs. Dr. S. T. Hasan of SP.
(Noor Bano is mother of current Nawab Kazim of Rampur)
Rampur: Nawab Kazim Ali Khan of Cong. Vs.
(Nawab Kazim is nawab of Rampur and is Columbia University trained architect who designed the glass and steel pyramid at Musee du Louvre in Paris)
Amethi: Rahul Gandhi of Cong. Vs. Smirti Irani of BJP
(Rahul is son Rajiv Gandhi and Smirti is TV serial actress)
Badaun: Dharmendra Yadav of SP vs. BJP vs. Cong. Vs. BSP
(Dharmendra is Mulayam Singh’s nephew)
Kannauj: Dimple Yadav of SP vs. BJP vs. Nirmal Twari of BSP vs. Subrat Pathak of BJP
(Dimple is wife of UP CM Akhilesh Yadav)
Firozabad: Akshay Yadav of SP vs. S. P. S. Baghel of BJP.
(Akshay is son of Mulayam Singh’s brother Gopal Yadav)
Kanpur: Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi of BJP vs. Salim Ahmad of BSP vs. K. P. Yadav of AAP
(Dr. Joshi is former Uion Minister and veteran BJP leader.)
Sultanpur: Varun Gandhi of BJP vs. Amita Singh of Cong. Vs. Shakil Ahmad of SP vs. Pawan Pandey of BSP
(Varun is son of Maneka Gandhi, Amita is wife of sitting MP Sanjay Singh)
Mathura: Hema Malini of BJP vs. Jayant Singh of RLD vs.
(Hema is former film actress and Jayant is son of Ajit Singh, minister in UPA govt.)
Fatehpur Sikri: Amar Singh of RLD vs. Seema Upadhayay of SP
(Amar Singh recently joined RLD after he was expelled from SP)
Mainpuri: Mulayam Singh of SP vs. Ms. Sanghamitra Maurya of BSP vs. Shatrughan Singh of BJP
(Mulayam is SP founder and chief. Congress has not fielded any candidate in this seat)
Lucknow: Rajnath Singh of BJP vs. Rita Bahuguna Joshi of Cong.
(Rajnath Singh is BJP President. Rita Bahuguna is UP Cogress President.)
Ghaziabad: Gen. V. K. Singh of BJP vs. Shazia Ilmi of AAP vs. Sudhan Kumar of SP vs. Raj Babbar of Cong.
(Singh has retired from the Army, Shazia is prominent leader of AAP, Babbar is film actor. Sitting MP is Rajnath Singh, BJP President)
Azamgarh: Mulayam Singh Yadav of SP vs. Ramakant Yadav of BJP vs. Shah Alam BSP
(Ramakant Yadav is sitting MP. This is second seat from where Mulayam is contesting)
Muzaffarnagar: Qadir Rana of BSP vs. Dr. Sanjeev Balyan of BJP vs. Virendra Singh of SP vs. Md. Yamin of AAP vs. Pankaj Agarwal of Cong.
(Qadir Rana is sitting MP. RLD’s Anuradha was runner up in 2009)
Aligarh: Zafar Alam of SP vs. Arvind Singh of BSP vs. Satish Goutam of BJP vs. Sabir Rahi of AAP
(Smt. Rajkumar Chauhan of BSP is sitting MP. Zafar Alam, an industrialist, was defeated by around 16,000 votes in 2009 elections.)
West Bengal
Malda North: Mausam Benazir of Cong. Vs. Soumitra Roy of Trinamool Cong.
(Mausam is daughter of late Union Minister A B A Ghani Khan Choudhury)
Malda South: Abu Hashem of Cong. Vs. Dr. Moazzam Hossain of Trinamool Con.
(Abu Hashem is son of later Union Minister A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury. Moazzam was personal physician to late Choudhury.)
Darjeeling: Bhaichung Bhutia of Trinamool Congress vs.BJP Candidate
(Bhaichung is former captain of Indian soccer team)
Jangipur: Abhijit Mukherjee of Cong. Vs. Muzaffair Hossain of CPM vs. Nurul Islam of Trinamool Cong.
(Abhijit is son of President of India, Pranab K. Mukherjee. The Muslim voters account for 60% of the constituency.)
Murshidabad: Muhammad Ali of Trinamool Cong. Vs. Mannan Hossain of Cong. Vs. Badraduzza Khan of CPM
(Mann Hossain is sitting MP)
Bashirhat: Idrish Ali of Trinamool Cong. vs. Qazi Abdur Rahim of Cong. vs. Nurul Huda of CPM.
(Nurul Islam of Trinamool is sitting MP)
Howrah: Prasoon Banerjee of Trinamool vs. George Baker of BJP vs. Manoj Pandey of Cong. Vs. Sridip Bhattacharya of CPM
(Prasoon is a footballer of Mohan Bagan while Baker, an Anglo India, was Bengali film actor)
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