After six weeks of voting across the country, the counting of votes will finally take place on June 4. While the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA is seeking a third term in power, the Indian National Congress-led INDIA alliance is confident of wresting power from the saffron faction in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
especially, News18 Mega Exit Poll He suggested that the BJP could win a majority of 305-315 seats and the Indian National Congress could win 62-72 seats. As expected, the NDA will win the Lok Sabha elections with 355-370 seats, while the Opposition-led INDIA alliance will win 125-140 seats.
With just a few hours left until the counting begins, here are some key battles to watch:
PM Modi vs 6 others in Varanasi
All eyes were on Varanasi constituency, where the seventh and final round of Indian Lok Sabha elections was being held, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had contested from the seat for three consecutive terms, having won in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
The Congress Party has high hopes and has fielded its Uttar Pradesh president, Ajay Rai, a veteran politician from the RSS, to take on Modi. Other candidates in the race are Kolisetti Shiva Kumar (Yuga Tulasi Party), Asar Jamal Lali (Bahujan Samaj Party), Gagan Prakash Yadav (Apna Dal, Kamerawadi), Dinesh Kumar Yadav (Independent) and Sanjay Kumar Tiwari (Independent).
Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad and Raebareli
Indian National Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi will contest two seats in this Lok Sabha election – Wayanad and Raebari.
Rahul will be representing Kerala’s Wayanad constituency for the second consecutive term. News18 Mega Exit Poll As per the opinion polls, Rahul will face off against BJP state president K. Surendran and Ani Raja, a prominent CPI leader in Wayanad. Meanwhile, Rahul, who is under increasing pressure to wrest Raebareli, a Gandhi stronghold, will take on BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh.
Amit Shah from Gandhinagar
BJP candidate Amit Shah is gearing up to contest the Lok Sabha elections again from his home constituency of Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Shah will face off against Sonal Patel, a former president of the women’s wing of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly and the Indian National Congress, in the urban constituency.
Notably, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Amit Shah defeated Chatursinh Javanji Chavda of the Indian National Congress by a large margin of 5.5 votes.
Akhilesh Yadav faces off against BJP’s Subrat Pathak in Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh
Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will contest from the Kannauj Assembly constituency against BJP candidate and incumbent MP Subrat Pathak.
Kannauj parliamentary constituency was a traditional Samajwadi Party seat for decades. In 1967, Ram Manohar Lohia won the election as a Samyukta Socialist Party candidate and the Janata Party held the seat twice thereafter. The seat then went to the Socialists and became their traditional seat thanks to the charismatic strategy of Akhilesh’s father, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Smriti Irani vs KL Sharma in Amethi
Amethi, one of the key parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh, is set to be a tough fight between BJP leader Smriti Irani and the Indian National Congress’ KL Sharma, who won the seat in 2019 and is seen as a staunch supporter of the Gandhi family.
Established as an electoral constituency in 1967, Amethi was a stronghold of the Indian National Congress, represented by key members of the Nehru-Gandhi clan, including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. The Gandhi family’s tradition in Amethi was broken when Smriti Irani of the Bharatiya Janata Party defeated Rahul Gandhi, bringing about a major change in the political landscape of the constituency.
Shashi Tharoor vs Rajiv Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram constituency, one of the 20 parliamentary constituencies in Kerala, is pitting incumbent MP Shashi Tharoor (Congress) against Union Minister Rajiv Chandrasekhar, with the CPI fielding Panniyan Raveendran in the constituency, likely to be a three-way contest.
The Indian National Congress and the CPI are allies at the national level as part of the Indian National Development Alliance (INDIA), but are at odds in the state of Kerala.
Nitin Gadkari vs Vikas Thakre in Nagpur
BJP candidate and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is contesting against BJP candidate Vikas Thakre of the Indian National Congress for the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Gadkari has won the seat in the last two Lok Sabha elections: in 2014, he defeated seven-term MP Vilas Muttemwar by a margin of 284,000 votes, and in 2019, he defeated incumbent Indian National Congress Maharashtra chief Nana Patole.
HD Kumaraswamy v. Goda, Mandya, Karnataka
The Mandya constituency in Karnataka is set to see a tough fight between JD(S) stalwart and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and Congress candidate Venkataramane Gowda. News18 exit pollThe battle seems to be going in Kumaraswamy’s favour.
The seat has traditionally been dominated by the Indian National Congress and the Janata Dal, with the Vokkaliga community making up more than 50 per cent of the electorate.
Kangana Ranaut of the BJP versus Vikramaditya Singh of the Indian National Congress
The main candidates for the Mandi Lok Sabha elections are Kangana Ranaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Vikramaditya Singh of the Indian National Congress. The Indian National Congress has traditionally dominated the Mandi constituency, with the late Virbhadra Singh having been elected thrice from the constituency and Pratibha Singh having won three times, including two in by-elections.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and BJP’s Madhav Ratha face off in Hyderabad
In the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat, a tight contest is underway between incumbent MP Asaduddin Owaisi, leader of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sanatan Dharma advocate Madhavi Lata.
by News18 Mega Exit Poll Owaisi, a four-time MP, is expected to maintain his lead, but newcomer Lata is likely to give it a close fight.
Annamalai vs DMK’s Ganapati Rajkumar
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu’s second-largest city, is witnessing a clash of giants in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP is pitting its firebrand leader and state unit chief, K Annamalai, against former mayor and DMK candidate P Ganapathi Rajkumar and the AIADMK’s Singai G Ramachandran.
Mahua v. Rani Ma from Krishnanagar, Bengal
Mahua Moitra, a former MP from Krishnanagar and Trinamool Congress leader, has started campaigning again, seeking re-election from her old seat. To give Moitra a tough fight, the BJP has fielded “Rani Maa” Amrita Roy, whose family is known for allying with the British and orchestrating the defeat of the Nawab. Roy is the wife of a descendant of Raja Krishna Chandra Roy, a former royal for whom the town is named.
This election contest is interesting for several reasons as it is not just a battle of elites versus royalty but also a battle of candidates versus political parties. The battle is being drawn between Mahua Moitra and the BJP.
Manoj Tiwari vs Kaniya Kumar in North East Delhi
Incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party MP Manoj Tiwari is running against Congress candidate Kanya Kumar in the Northeast Delhi constituency. Both party leaders, Manoj Tiwari and Kanya, are from Bihar and contested the constituency, which has a large number of voters from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Congress candidate Kanya Kumar was banking on incumbent Manoj Tiwari’s decade of anti-establishment activism.
Arvind Sawant vs Jamini Yadav
Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency has always been in the spotlight.
The battle for the Mumbai South seat has turned into a Sena vs Sena contest with Shinde’s Shiv Sena fielding Byculla MP Yamini Jadhav against Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena’s Arvind Sawant, who is seeking a third term.
Ujjwal Nikam vs Varsha Gaikwad, North Central Mumbai
The Mumbai North Central constituency is expected to be a close contest between lawyer Ujjwal Nikam and Varsha Gaikwad, who the BJP surprisingly nominated to replace two-term MP Poonam Mahajan, daughter of the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, while the Indian National Congress has fielded Professor Varsha Gaikwad in the constituency.
