From Rae Bareli to Thiruvananthapuram, key contests to watch for

Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi for the third time. In 2014, he defeated AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and won against Samajwadi Party's Shalini Yadav in 2019.

The Congress fielded Ajay Rai, also its candidate from the constituency in 2014 and 2019. Before Modi, the Varanasi seat was held by BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi.

Rahul Gandhi contested the Lok Sabha poll from Rae Bareli against BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh. He has been an MP thrice from Amethi and was defeated in 2019 by sitting MP Smriti Irani.

The seat, which until February was held by his mother Sonia Gandhi, has remained with the Congress since 1952 barring three elections – 1977, (Janata Party), 1996 and 1999 (BJP).

BJP's Smriti Irani, who wrested the seat from Rahul Gandhi in 2019, is seeking a re-election from the constituency, the Congress fielded Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family.

It is for the first time in 25 years that a Gandhi family member did not contest election from Amethi Lok Sabha seat.

Sitting MP and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor is seeking a re-election from Thiruvananthapuram for a fourth consecutive term. He is facing BJP leader and Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who made his Lok Sabha poll debut and wants to open the saffron party's account in Kerala. The other prominent leader in the contest is CPI's Pannyan Raveendran, who had won the elections from the constituency in 2005.