Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 2: Rahul, Tharoor And Surya Among Key Contenders In The Fray

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, as well as actor-turned-politician Arun Govil, are among the key candidates vying for seats in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections, while BJP candidates Hema Malini, Om Birla, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat are aiming for a hat-trick of victories.

The first phase of the elections, held in seven stages last Friday for 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories, saw a voter turnout of approximately 65.5%.

In the second phase of Lok Sabha polls on Friday, polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

Here are 10 political heavywieghts in fray in in phase 2 of Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 

1. Rahul Gandhi: Gandhi is the sitting MP from Wayanad in Kerala and is seeking re-election. He is pitted against CPI's Annie Raja and BJP's K Surendran. Gandhi won the 2019 election by more than 7 lakh votes over his closest rival, CPI's P P Suneer.

2. Shashi Tharoor: A senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, hopes to retain his Thiruvananthapuram seat for the fourth time. He will face Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP and CPI's Pannyan Raveendran.

3. Hema Malini: Malini, who has represented Mathura since 2014, is up against Congress' Mukesh Dhangar.

4. Om Birla: Former Lok Sabha speaker and two-term MP from Kota, is up against Prahlad Gunjal of the Congress party.

5. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat: Union Minister Shekhawat is aiming for his third win in Jodhpur, while Congress candidate Karan Singh Uchiyarda will try to stymie the BJP candidate.

6. Tejasvi Surya: The sitting MP for Bangalore South and national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), will face Congress candidate Sowmya Reddy.

7. Bhupesh Baghel: Former Chhattisgarh CM, Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel is contesting from Rajnandgaon, a stronghold of the BJP for over 30 years. Baghel will face BJP candidate Santosh Pandey, who won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, succeeding Abhishek Singh, the son of former Chief Minister Raman Singh. 

8. KC Venugopal: The race for the Alappuzha seat in Kerala has become a prestige battle for the Congress, with All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal returning to the Lok Sabha poll fray after 2014, as the party seeks to reclaim the only seat it lost to the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in its landslide 19-1 victory in Kerala in the 2019 elections.

Venugopal has never lost a major election in his career. He won the Alappuzha Assembly seat three times in a row (1996, 2001, and 2006), and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Alappuzha in 2009 and 2014. In 2019, he did not run for office after being appointed AICC general secretary by his party.

9. Arun Govil: Govil, best known for playing Lord Ram in the Ramayan TV series, will face BSP's Devvrat Kumar Tyagi and SP's Sunita Verma. 

10. Suresh Gopi: Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi is also in the fray from Thrissur against K Muraleedharan of Congress and VS Sunil Kumar of CPI(M).