Voters in eight states and Union Territories took part in the sixth phase of the 18th Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on Saturday. 58 Lok Sabha constituencies including 14 in Uttar Pradesh, 10 in Haryana, 8 each in West Bengal and Bihar, 7 in Bihar, 6 in Odisha, 4 in Jharkhand and 1 in Jammu and Kashmir are going for polls in the sixth phase.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP-led NDA won 45 of these 58 seats (BJP 40, JDU 3, LJP 1 and AJSU 1). The Congress-led UPA won only 1 seat (JKNC 1) and other parties won 12 seats (BSP 4, BJD 4, TMC 3 and SP 1).
Several key candidates are in the fray in the sixth phase. In Uttar Pradesh, BJP’s Maneka Gandhi, Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’, Jagdambika Pal, Praveen Kumar Nishad, Kripashankar Singh and Neelam Sonkar, Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates Dharmendra Yadav, SP Singh Patel, Babu Singh Kushwaha, Lalji Verma, Ram Shiromani Verma, Bhishma Shankar Tiwari, Congress candidate Ujjwal Rewati Raman Singh, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates Shyam Singh Yadav and Kripa Shankar Saroj and Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Lalitesh Pati Tripathi are also contesting the elections.
In Haryana, BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar, Rao Inderjit Singh, Krishan Pal Gurjar, Ranjit Singh Chautala, Ashok Tanwar and Naveen Jindal are some key candidates. Kumari Selja, Deependra Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar and Jai Parkash of Congress and Sushil Gupta of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are also in the fray. Both parties have an alliance in the state.
Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) candidates Naina Singh Chautala, Nalin Hooda and Rahul Yadav Fazilpuria and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leaders Abhay Singh Chautala and Sunaina Chautala are also vying to enter the Lok Sabha.
Abhijit Gangopadhyay (BJP), Deepak Adhikari Dev (TMC), Agnimitra Paul (BJP), Arup Chakraborty (TMC) and Saumitra Khan (BJP) are some of the key candidates in West Bengal.
Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP), Radha Mohan Singh (BJP), Lovely Anand (JDU), Ritu Jaiswal (RJD), Veena Devi (LJP-RV), Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla (RJD), Awadh Bihari Choudhary (RJD) and Janardan Singh Sigriwal (BJP) are key candidates in Bihar in the sixth phase.
Manoj Tiwari (BJP), Kanhaiya Kumar (Congress), Jai Prakash Agarwal (Congress), Somnath Bharti (AAP), Bansuri Swaraj (BJP), Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (BJP) and Mahabal Mishra (AAP) in Delhi, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP), Ananta Nayak (BJP), Arup Patnaik (BJD), Sambit Patra (BJP), Aparajita Sarangi (BJP) and Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJP) in Odisha, Sanjay Seth (BJP), Yashashwini Sahay (Congress), Bidyut Baran Mahato (BJP) and Mathura Prasad Mahto (JMM) in Jharkhand and Mehbooba Mufti (JKPDP) in Jammu and Kashmir are other key candidates in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.