Lok Sabha Elections: Mahua Moitra, Akhilesh Yadav & Asaduddin Owaisi Among Key candidates in Phase 4

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: As Lok Sabha elections enter ir midway mark, fourth phase of polling is set to take place in 96 constituencies across 10 states and Union Territories on May 13. A total of 1,717 candidates including some prominent ministers and MPs are in fray, whose political fate will be determined as voters in Maharashtra, Mhya Presh, Andhra Presh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Uttar Presh, Telangana, West Bengal, and Jharkhand he to polls. Notably, all 17 seats in Telangana and 25 seats in Andhra Presh are up for grabs in this phase of election.

Issues like reservations, appeasement politics, corruption and jobs dominated battle of narratives in fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Prominent candidates in fourth phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 are:

Akhilesh Yav: Considered a stronghold of Samajwi Party, Kannauj is set for a fierce battle between SP chief Akhilesh Yav and Bharatiya Janata Party's incumbent MP and perfume trer, Subrat Pathak. SP chief served as Lok Sabha MP from 2000-2012. He resigned from Kannauj parliamentary seat in 2012 after he became Chief Minister of Uttar Presh. Kannauj seat has been considered a stronghold of Samajwi Party since 1998, but seat witnessed a significant shift in 2019 election when BJP's Subrat Pathak managed to secure victory.

Giriraj Singh: Union minister Giriraj Singh is contesting from Bihar’s Begusarai Lok Sabha seat, from where he is seeking re-election. Singh will have Communist Party of India's Awhesh Kumar Rai Yav as his opponent from constituency. region was once known to be a hotbed of Left Wing politics. It was even called "Leningr of Bihar", a reference to Soviet-era city (now St Petersburg) where Bolshevik leer Vlimir Lenin heralded Russian Revolution with October Revolution. In 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, BJP leer Giriraj Singh won Begusarai seat for first time with a margin of 4,22,217 votes. 

Nityanand Rai: Senior BJP leer Nityanand Rai is trying his luck from Bihar's Ujiarpur seat once again under NDA banner. Rai is pitted against RJD's Alok Mehta, who is Mahagathbandhan's nominee. He h won 2014 and 2019 general elections from Ujiarpur as a BJP candidate, and prior to that, represented Hajipur assembly constituency in 2000, 2005, and 2010. ditionally, during 2016 Bihar Vidhan Sabha election, Rai served as BJP Bihar president.

hir Ranjan Chowdhury: Congress leer hir Ranjan Chowdhury is contesting from Behrampur Lok Sabha constituency of West Bengal. Behrampur Lok Sabha constituency, one of important and prestigious seats in West Bengal under Murshidab District, is a hot seat in this election. TMC candidate, Yusuf Pathan, a former cricketer, is interestingly pitted against Chowdhury, a veteran MP who has held this seat since 1999. As a politician, this is a new battlefield for Yusuf Pathan. However, he is rey to fight against hir Ranjan Chowdhury and assures that people of Behrampur will support him as ir new hope.

Mahua Moitra: Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra is fighting Lok Sabha election from Krishnanagar constituency of West Bengal. She is contesting for seat against BJP's newcomer Amrita Roy, who claims direct descent from Raja Krishna Chandra Roy. erstwhile king h sided with East India company to defeat last independent ruler of Bengal Siraj-ud-Daulah. Moitra of AITC won Krishnanagar constituency in Lok Sabha elections 2019, securing 614872 votes and with a massive margin of 63218.

Asuddin Owaisi: AIMIM president Asuddin Owaisi is contesting from Telangana's Hyderab Lok Sabha constituency against BJP candidate Mhavi Latha. Hyderab is bracing itself for big showdown between Mhavi Latha and sitting All India Majlis-e-Ittehul Muslimeen MP. This is first time that BJP has fielded a female candidate from Hyderab constituency. Owaisi, who has served four terms in Lok Sabha as elected representative from Hyderab since 2004, was previously elected as an MLA twice in erstwhile undivided Andhra Presh.

YS Sharmila: YS Sharmila is contesting from Andhra Presh's Kapa parliamentary seat as a Congress candidate. Kapa Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Presh braces for a fierce contest as state Congress chief YS Sharmila is set to challenge her cousin and incumbent YSRCP MP YS Avinash Reddy. Sharmila is Andhra CM Jagan's younger sibling. After starting her political venture in Telangana politics, Sharmila merged her outfit, YSR Telangana Party, into Congress and shifted base to Andhra Presh, where she was appointed as state unit chief.

Out of 96 Lok Sabha seats set to go to polls on May 13, 25 seats are from Andhra Presh, 17 from Telangana, 13 from Uttar Presh, 11 from Maharashtra, eight each from Mhya Presh and West Bengal, five from Bihar, four each from Jharkhand and Odisha and one from Jammu and Kashmir. Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases till June 1. Polling for three phases has alrey been concluded. Votes will be counted on June 4.