PM Modi, Bollywood Stars & Other Key Candidates in Seventh Phase

Here is a lowdown of all the key candidates in fray in the last phase.

(Photo Altered By The Quint)

After more than a month of electioneering, the dust will finally settle on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, as it enters its seventh and last phase on Sunday, 19 May.

While the Varanasi constituency is expected to grab maximum eyeballs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi eyeing election from the Uttar Pradesh seat, there are a number of other prominent candidates to in the fray.

Here is a state-wise lowdown of all the key candidates in the seventh phase:

Uttar Pradesh

Voting will be held on Sunday for 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, which will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking re-election from Varanasi.

Besides him, Union Minister Manoj Sinha and Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey are also seeking re-election from Ghazipur and Chandauli respectively.

The saffron party has pitted Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan from Gorakhpur against Congress's Madhusudan Tripathi and Rambhual Nishad of the Samajwadi Party.

Madhya Pradesh

Eight constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, which will vote in the last round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on 19 May, will decide the fate of a number of key candidates including former Union Ministers Kantilal Bhuria and Arun Yadav, sitting MLA Guman Singh Damor, and a few greenhorns, among others.

Also in the running are former state BJP president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan and senior Congress leader Meenakshi Natrajan.

West Bengal

Nine LS seats in West Bengal are going to polls in the seventh phase. Sitting MP Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and considered the number two in the party, is seeking re-election from the Diamond Harbour seat, where he is pitted against BJP's Nilanjan Roy.

In the Jadavpur seat, TMC's celebrity candidate Mimi Chakraborty will contest against Anupam Hazra of the BJP. The CPI(M) has fielded senior leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya.

Basirhat Lok Sabha seat will see another star TMC candidate, Nusrat Jahan, locking horns with BJP's Sayantan Basu.

Bihar

As many as four Union Ministers are among the 157 candidates in Bihar whose electoral fortunes will be decided on Sunday in the final phase of general elections in the state’s eight Lok Sabha constituencies.

The most keenly watched contest is in Patna Sahib, where Ravi Shankar Prasad, one of the Narendra Modi cabinet’s most prominent members, is seeking entry into the Lok Sabha.

However, Prasad faces the challenge of retaining the seat for his party by defeating Shatrughan Sinha, the actor-turned-politician who won it on both occasions and is now in the fray as the Congress candidate.

In the neighbouring Pataliputra constituency, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Misa Bharti is in the fray. In Buxar, Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey is bidding to retain her seat for a second consecutive term.

Punjab

Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and two union ministers – Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri – are among the 278 candidates vying for seats on Sunday.

Actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar and Aam Aadmi Party's Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann are among the prominent candidates seeking votes.

Deol is contesting from Gurdaspur constituency where he faces sitting MP Sunil Jakhar.

Sukhbir Badal is Akali Dal’s nominee from Ferozepur Lok Sabha constituency, considered a party stronghold. He is pitted against party rebel and now Congress candidate Sher Singh Ghubaya.

Meanwhile, Mann, the AAP's best bet in Punjab, is seeking re-election from Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.

Union minister and Sukhbir Badal's wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal is contesting from the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat.

Jharkhand

The electoral fortunes of 42 candidates including that of former chief minister and union minister Shibu Soren will be decided on Sunday in the final phase of the general elections in Jharkhand.

Elections will be held in three seats – Dumka, Rajmahal and Godda – on Sunday.

Soren, the chief of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and an eighth term sitting MP, is in the fray from Dumka seat once again. He is crossing swords with BJP's Sunil Soren.

Sitting BJP MP Nishikant Dubey is also facing a fight from JVM MLA Pradip Yadav in the Godda seat.