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Lok Sabha polls | 8th phase: 10 most high profile battles

Rahul Gandhi, Rabri Devi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ram Vilas Paswan, Varun Gandhi among those in fray today

Shantanu Bhattacharj New Delhi
Last Updated : May 07 2014 | 10:28 AM IST
Voting is underway in 64 Lok Sabha constituencies in the penultimate round of the national election that ends on May 12. Rahul Gandhi, Rabri Devi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ram Vilas Paswan, Varun Gandhi and Beni Prasad Verma among those whose fate will be sealed today.
 
The Congress has reasons to be concerned over the outcome of the eighth round as the party holds nearly half the 64 seats. The BJP has to do well in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to be in the reckoning as the single largest party in the new Lok Sabha.
 
Here's a quick look at the top ten contests:
 

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1) All eyes are on the Gandhi family bastion of Amethi. Congress vice president and the incumbent MP Rahul Gandhi is fighting one of his toughest electoral battles in Amethi this time, facing Aam Aadmi Party’s senior leader Kumar Vishwas and BJP’s actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani. The Samajwadi party took a call to not field candidates against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.  Since 1980, the Gandhi family has won the Amethi seat eight times — Sanjay Gandhi had won the seat in 1980 just months before he died in a plane crash. Rajiv Gandhi was elected MP from here four times, Sonia Gandhi once, and Rahul Gandhi twice in 2004 and 2009.
 
In Amethi, while Vishwas is banking on the power of 'aam aadmi', Irani is trying to cash in on Modi wave.
 
2) BJP candidate Varun Gandhi, a cousin of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, is contesting on the ‘family plank’ from Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh). He is pitted against Congress’s strongman and MP Sanjay Singh's wife Amita Singh. Varun Gandhi is banking more on his late father Sanjay Gandhi's name than on Narendra Modi.
 
Other key Uttar Pradesh candidates include Beni Prasad Verma (Gonda) of the Congress. He is facing BJP's Kirti Vardhan Singh. Vardhan has previously won the seat as a member of Samajwadi Party in 1998 and 2004.
 
Faizabad is a key constituency that also includes Ayodhya. The sitting MP from Faizabad is Congress’ Nirmal Khatri and he’s facing BJP’s Lallu Singh, and SP’s Jitendra Kumar.
 
3) In the hill state of Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Harish Rawat's wife Renuka Rawat is making her maiden attempt to enter the Lok Sabha through Hardwar. Rawat’s wife is facing former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank of the BJP. It is being seen as a direct fight between Rawat and the BJP.
 
4) In Himachal Pradesh, Mandi and Hamirpur are witnessing a battle of supremacy between arch rivals Virbhadra Singh and Prem Kumar Dhumal. The former is the Congress veteran whose wife Pratibha Singh is again in the fray in Mandi, while the latter belongs to the BJP and his son Anurag Thakur is re-contesting in Hamirpur, a BJP bastion.
 
5) In Kangra, two-time Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Shanta Kumar of BJP, Congress' Chander Kumar, winner here in 2004, and AAP’s Rajan Sushant, who won in 2009 on a BJP ticket but resigned from the seat this January, are the three leading contenders.
 
6) Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi stepped into the shoes of her husband and RJD chief Lalu Prasad — who has been barred from contesting — to claim Saran, the seat he had held before his membership was terminated. Rabri Devi’s main rival is BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy. After being defeated twice in 2004 and 2009 by Lalu Prasad, Rudy is confident to win this time thanks to the Modi wave.
 
In Maharajganj, Prabhunath Singh of RJD is seeking re-election. Last year, he defeated Janata Dal-United's P K Shahi in the by-election.
 
7) Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan, who recently joined hands with the BJP, is once again trying his luck from Hajipur (Bihar). Taking on Paswan is the 93-year-old sitting MP of Hajipur, JD (U) veteran Ram Sundar Das, who defeated him by less than 40,000 votes in 2009.
 
8) After the Telangana region voted in the last phase, it’s now the turn for Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh to cast votes. For two Andhra politicians — N Chandrababu Naidu and Jaganmohan Reddy — these are the most decisive polls. One is out of power for 10 years and the other wants to grab power for the first time. And both are vying for the Seemandhra CM’s seat.  
 
TDP boss Naidu is seeking re-election from his Kuppam Assembly constituency in native Chittoor district, which he has been representing since 1989. YSR congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy is contesting Assembly polls for the first time from the family stronghold of Pulivendula in native Kadapa district.
 
9) Union Human Resource Development Minister and Congress candidate M M Pallam Raju is contesting again from Kakinada Lok Sabha seat, which he won thrice earlier. 
 
Former union minister D Purandeswari, daughter of the legendary N T Rama Rao, is fighting from Rajampet as a BJP candidate. She quit the Congress after Andhra Pradesh was split.
 
Incumbent MP in Nellore and YSR Congress candidate Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy is up against Adala Prabhakara Reddy of the Telugu Desam Party.
 
10) In Bankura (West Bengal), CPI-M's Basudeb Acharia, the 2009 winner, is pitted against Trinamool candidate and former Bollywood actress Moon Moon Sen, daughter of veteran actress late Suchitra Sen.
 
Popular singer Babul Supriyo is the BJP’s candidate from Asansol. He is fighting mainly against the sitting MP Bansagopal Chowdhury of the CPI-M and Trinamool candidate Dola Sen.

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First Published: May 07 2014 | 8:39 AM IST

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