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Assam’s Dibrugarh constituency will be a must-watch for the AAP with only three candidates in the fray, and the party’s Manoj Dhanowar taking on the BJP’s Sarbananda Sonowal. But, the other interesting fact is that this seat, along with Nagaland, has the least number of candidates going into the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19.
According to an analysis of poll data by News18, Dibrugarh and the sole Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland have only three candidates in the fray. Karur in Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, has the highest number of candidates in the fray at 54.
What is the poll scenario in Dibrugarh and Nagaland?
Manoj Dhanowar, the 47-year-old AAP candidate, is the son of eight-time Congress MLA from Digboi, the late Rameswar Dhanowar. Manoj failed to win on a Congress ticket in the 2021 assembly election. He faces a straight fight from 62-year-old Sonowal, who has served as the chief minister between 2016 and 2021 before he became part of the union cabinet.
Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) candidate Lurinjyoti Gogoi, meanwhile, will also be part of the triangular fight in Dibrugarh. He is a former general secretary of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and was a poster boy of the anti-CAA movement in the state.
Dibrugarh is among the five Lok Sabha seats in Assam to go to polls in the first phase. Out of a total of 14 seats in the state, another five will go to polls in the second phase and the remaining four in the third phase. A total of 35 candidates, including four women, are in the fray for the first phase.
Three candidates are contesting from the sole Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland. Congress candidate S Supongmeren Jamir, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) consensus candidate Chumben Murry and Independent Hayithung Tungoe Lotha are in the fray.
According to numbers issued by the Election Commission of India on Monday, there are 1,625 candidates in the fray for the 102 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the first phase. This includes 134 women and 1,491 men.
For the first phase of the polls, News18 has found that there are 86 candidates from the BSP, 76 from the BJP and 72 from the Congress. Close to 900 independents are also in the fray.
All Tamil Nadu seats voting in first phase
Tamil Nadu, which will have Lok Sabha elections for all the 39 seats in the first phase, has the highest number of candidates at 950. The state has 76 female candidates.
Across all the 102 Lok Sabha seats voting in the first phase, Karur has the highest number of candidates at 54. The BSP, BJP, AIADMK and Congress are in the fray here, while it has four more candidates from the registered political parties. In addition, 46 independents are also contesting from this seat, ECI data shows.
Several seats in Tamil Nadu have more than 30 candidates, including Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Sriperumbudur and Chennai Central with 31 candidates each. There are 41 candidates in Chennai South and 35 in Chennai North. The state has more than 600 independents in the fray.
A look at the other states
At least 12 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan will also go to polls in the first phase, where 114 candidates are trying their luck. Jaipur Rural seat has the highest number of candidates at 15, followed by 14 from Sikar, as well as 13 each from Churu and Jaipur. In Karauli-Dholpur seat, only four candidates are in the fray – one each from the Congress, BJP and BSP as well as an independent.
Single seats in nine states and UTs will also go to polls in the first phase. The list includes Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where 12 candidates are in the fray. Bastar (11 candidates) in Chhattisgarh; Udhampur (12) in Jammu and Kashmir; Lakshadweep (four); Sikkim (14); Tripura West (nine) in Tripura; Puducherry (26); and Mizoram (six) will have elections on single seats.
In Udhampur, the BJP has fielded union minister Jitendra Singh, who will be facing Lal Singh of the Congress, Amit Kumar of the BSP, and Balwan Singh of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (Bhim). Seven independent candidates are also contesting.
The two seats in Arunachal Pradesh – West (eight) and East (six) – are also going to polls in the first phase with 14 candidates trying their luck. The BJP has named cabinet minister Kiren Rijiju from the Arunachal West constituency, while the Congress has named Nabam Tuki. Five more independent candidates are also in the fight. In Arunachal East, Arunachal Pradesh BJP chief Tapir Gao is in the fray against Congress leader and former MLA Bosiram Siram.
In Assam, Kaziranga Lok Sabha seat has 11 candidates – the highest among the five seats going to polls in the first phase. It is followed by Lakhimpur (nine) and Sonitpur (eight). In Jorhat, four candidates are in the fray – Gaurav Gogoi (Congress), Topon Kumar Gogoi (BJP), and one independent candidate apart from one from a registered political party, Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal.
A total of 38 candidates are in the fray for the four Lok Sabha seats in Bihar: Gaya (14), Aurangabad (nine), Nawada (eight) and Jamui (seven).
For the six seats in Madhya Pradesh, there are 88 candidates – the highest from Jabalpur at 19. Sidhi (17), Shahdol (10), Mandla (14), Balaghat (13), and Chhindwara (15) will also go to polls in the first phase.
Out of the 97 candidates trying their luck on the five Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, the highest are from Ramtek at 28. The Shiv Sena’s Raju Deonath Parve is being challenged by Congress and BSP candidates. There are 26 candidates in Nagpur, where union minister Nitin Gadkari is contesting for the third time; 18 in Bhandara-Gondiya; 10 in Gadchiroli-Chimur and 15 in Chandrapur.
Ten candidates are in fray for Inner (six) and Outer (four) Manipur seats and an equal number are there in Meghalaya – six for Shillong and four for Tura.
The Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases with maximum seats covered in the first phase.
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