2024 Lok Sabha polls: Here are the 5 big fights to look out for

As the major political parties announce the first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, some constituencies, like every time, look set for a nail-biting fight. Will one of the candidates just sail through, or will it come down to the penalty shootout, so to speak? Only time will tell, but here are five big contests that are sure to grab eyeballs.

Kerala: K Muraleedharan (Congress) vs VS Sunil Kumar (CPI) vs Suresh Gopi (BJP) in Thrissur

The battle of Thrissur is hotting up by the day, with actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi pitched against heavyweights K Muraleedharan and VS Sunil Kumar.

Muraleedharan, the sitting MP from Vatakara, has a big advantage in Thrissur since it is his father, former Kerala CM and former Union minister K Karunakaran’s home turf. Also, the four-time MP and two-time MLA is known for winning tough poll contests. He replaces current Congress MP TN Prathapan for the seat.

With popular CPI leader and former minister VS Sunil Kumar, a former MLA from the Thrissur Assembly seat, joining the fray, the contest has become all the more exciting. Suresh Gopi, who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well as the 2021 Assembly polls, engineered a rise in BJP vote share on both occasions, it will be interesting to see his performance in this one.

Chhattisgarh: Bhupesh Baghel (Congress) vs Santosh Pandey (BJP) in Rajnandgaon

Former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel faces a tough job in Rajnandgaon where he takes on sitting MP Santosh Pandey of the BJP. The saffron party has held the Rajnandgaon seat since 2009 though a different leader has served as the MP each time. Pandey has been serving as the MP here since 2019.

Baghel, on the other hand, is a three-term and incumbent MLA from Patan, which is part of the Durg Lok Sabha seat. Will Baghel, a popular leader no doubt, be able to break the BJP’s run in Rajnandgaon? It will be an interesting contest for sure.

Maharashtra: Supriya Sule (NCP Sharad Pawar) vs Sunetra Pawar (NCP Ajit Pawar) in Baramati

It’s full-on Pawar play in Baramati, where Pawar bahu Sunetra is set to take on Pawar daughter Supriya Sule. While Sule is a three-term MP from the constituency, Sunetra, a social worker, is a political newbie.

However, the “civil war” in the family, which also reflects in the choice of candidate for their respective parties — both factions of NCP — will make it an interesting contest. Sule is NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s daughter, while Sunetra is the senior Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar’s wife.

Ever since Ajit broke off from his uncle’s party with a bunch of leaders to join the BJP alliance in the state, relations have been frosty between the two factions of the family.

Delhi: Bansuri Swaraj (BJP) vs Somnath Bharti (AAP) in New Delhi

Another poll debutant is BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj in New Delhi. The lawyer and co-convener of the party’s legal cell in Delhi will grab eyeballs not only because she is late BJP heavyweight Sushma Swaraj’s daughter, but also because of her rapid rise in the party.

Eyes will be on this seat also because Bansuri replaces two-term BJP MP from this seat and Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi.

Bansuri’s primary opponent is Somnath Bharti of the AAP, a fellow lawyer as well as IIT-ian who has been the AAP MLA from Delhi’s Malviya Nagar Assembly seat since 2013.

Tripura: Ashish Kumar Saha (Congress) vs Biplap Deb (BJP) in Tripura West

Another big battle is brewing in the North-East for the Tripura West seat, where Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee president Asish Kumar Saha will take on former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb of the BJP.

Saha, a former MLA, has an interesting political history — he has switched from Congress to TMC to BJP and back to Congress in less than 10 years. He won the 2013 Assembly elections as a Congress candidate from Bardowali and joined the TMC in 2016. In the next state polls in 2018, he won Bardowali again, this time as a BJP candidate. He then resigned and returned to the Congress, only to be defeated by Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha in the 2023 Assembly polls.

Deb, who served as the Tripura CM from 2018 to 2022, is best remembered for his controversial remarks such as that Internet existed during the times of the Mahabharata. He won the 2018 state polls from Banamalipur, which is part of the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat and so is Bardowali.