As the votes are counted, we will know whether the INDIA bloc manages to spring a surprise and upset the NDA tally, or whether Rahul Gandhi’s confident claim of 295 seats for the INDIA bloc holds water.
There will also be the culmination of several interesting battles. For example, Rahul is ready to embark on a prestige battle in Rae Bareli from Uttar PradeshCongress stronghold since the 1980s, after his mother, Sonia Gandhi, who represented the seat five times, said: “main aapko apna beta saup rahi hoon. (I hand over my son to you.)”
In Maharashtra BaramatiMeanwhile, it’s tai versus vahini, with Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule versus Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar fomenting a split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) last year .
A ‘queen’ takes on a ‘shehzaada’ in Himachal Pradesh Mandiwhere Bollywood actress and BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut is pitted against Congress’ Vikramaditya Singh, whose mother is a three-time MP from the seat.
Another close race is expected in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, where senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is in a pitched battle against BJP candidate and Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Meanwhile, with the BJP expected to improve its score in Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore is yet another seat to watch out for, where fiery BJP leader K Annamalai is taking on DMK’s Ganapathy Rajkumar.
In West Bengal’s Behrampore, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is pitted against popular cricketer and TMC candidate Yusuf Pathan. Although the TMC chose not to join the INDIA bloc in Bengal, its leader Mamata Banerjee said it would provide “external support” to the opposition alliance in case it manages to form a government at the Center .
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