Lok Sabha polls: Meet the key candidates in phase 3
What's the story
The third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, set to be held on Tuesday, will see a total of 94 seats contested across twelve states and Union Territories.
Among the notable candidates are Amit Shah, Pralhad Joshi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Digvijaya Singh, Supriya Sule and Dimple Yadav.
The Election Commission of India has said that out of the initial 2,963 nominations filed for this phase, only 1,563 were deemed valid with a final count of 1,351 candidates vying for these seats.
Candidate highlights
Shah seeks re-election from Gandhinagar
Union Home Minister Shah, is seeking re-election from Gandhinagar in Gujarat with his main opponent being Sonal Patel from the Congress.
In the previous Lok Sabha election in 2019, Shah secured a significant victory with a margin of over 5.55 lakh votes.
Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister, Scindia, is contesting from Guna constituency in Madhya Pradesh against the Congress's Yadvendra Rao Deshraj Singh.
Interestingly, Scindia lost this seat while running on a Congress ticket in the 2019 elections.
Maharashtra
Pawar family face-off at Baramati
Yadav from the Samajwadi Party is seeking re-election from Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, with her main competition being the Bharatiya Janata Party's Jaiveer Singh Thakur.
In a by-election held in December 2022, Yadav emerged victorious with a margin of nearly three lakh votes.
In Baramati, Maharashtra, Sule will face off against Sunetra Pawar.
Sule has previously won this seat three times and defeated BJP candidate Kanchan Rahul Kul in the last election with a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes.
Madhya Pradesh
2 former CMs in race in MP
Former CM of Madhya Pradesh Digivijaya Singh is running from the Rajgarh constituency against two-time BJP MP Rodmal Nagar.
Separately, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who holds the record for the longest tenure as CM of Madhya Pradesh, is contesting from Vidisha against Pratap Bhanu Sharma from the Congress.
Union Minister Joshi is seeking re-election from Dharwad constituency in Karnataka with his main competition being Vinod Asooti of Congress.