Lok Sabha elections phase 6 blockbusters: Clash of Bihari babus in Delhi, Maneka's 'lonely' battle, Mufti's fight for survival

Bansuri Swaraj, Naveen Jindal, Maneka Gandhi, Dinesh Lal Yadav, ML Khattar, Mehbooba Mufti and Manoj Tiwari are among the key candidates in this phase

After days of high-voltage campaigning, the stage is set for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections with 58 constituencies across 8 states and Union Territories going to polls.

The penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections will cover the national capital Delhi and adjoining Haryana besides several key constituencies in states like Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.

Voting will be conducted in the following states on May 25: Bihar (8), Haryana (10), Jharkhand (4), Odisha (6), Uttar Pradesh (14), West Bengal (8), Delhi (7). This phase will also cover the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency in J&K, where polling was rescheduled from May 7 to May 25.

The fate of as many as 889 candidates will be decided by the voters in this phase. Among the key contestants are Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP) from Sambalpur (Odisha), Manoj Tiwari (BJP) and Kanhaiya Kumar (Congress) from North East Delhi, Maneka Gandhi (BJP) from Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) from Anantnag-Rajouri (Jammu & Kashmir), Abhijit Gangopadhyay (BJP) from Tamluk (West Bengal), and BJP's Manohar Lal Khattar (Karnal, Haryana), Naveen Jindal (Kurukshetra) and Rao Inderjit Singh (Gurgaon).

Lok Sabha elections phase 6: Watch out for these key contests on May 25

Delhi: In Delhi, BJP is facing a united challenge from AAP and Congress - both constituents of the broader opposition bloc INDIA. In both 2014 and 2019, BJP won all 7 seats in Delhi riding on the Modi wave. This year, it is striving to repeat its previous performance and pull off another clean sweep. However, the contest has become interesting due to the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case. The Delhi CM was granted temporary bail to campaign for AAP and he left no stone unturned to build a strong political narrative around it and paint the Modi government as a tyrannical administration. While the jury is still out on whether Kejriwal's arrest will help AAP get emotional sympathy from voters, the saga has definitely turned the BJP vs AAP-Congress contest into a keenly-watched political drama.

Several high-voltage contests are lined up in all 7 seats of Delhi. In New Delhi, BJP's newcomer Bansuri Swaraj (Sushma Swaraj's daughter) faces AAP veteran Somnath Bharti; in North East Delhi, incumbent BJP MP Manoj Tiwari is up against Congress's Kanhaiya Kumar; East Delhi will see a clash between BJP’s Harsh Malhotra and AAP's Kuldeep Kumar; in North West Delhi, Congress's Udit Raj is pitted against BJP's Yogendra Chandolia; in Chandni Chowk, BJP's Praveen Khandelwal faces Congress veteran Jai Prakash Agarwal; South Delhi will see BJP's Ramvir Singh Bidhuri going up against AAP's Sahiram Pehalwan; and in West Delhi, Congress veteran Mahabal Mishra, now with AAP, is challenging BJP's Kamaljeet Sehrawat.

Haryana: Several constituencies will be in the spotlight with all 10 seats in Haryana going to polls in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls. In Karnal, BJP has fielded former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar amid buzz that he could be given a larger national role. He will be facing Congress's young face Divyanshu Budhiraja (31). In Gurugram, BJP has again backed Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh, the scion of the royal family of the erstwhile state of Rewari. He will face a challenge from actor and Congress candidate Raj Babbar. Faridabad will see a tough contest between senior BJP leader and Union minister Krishan Pal Gurjar and Congress veteran Mahender Pratap Singh. In Rohtak, the Hooda family is fighting tooth-and-nail to reclaim its former bastion with Congress's Deepender Singh Hooda challenging BJP's Arvind Sharma. Hooda lost the seat to Sharma in 2019. Kurukshetra will see a triangular battle between business tycoon Naveen Jindal of BJP, Sushil Gupta of AAP and a scion of the influential Chautala family - Abhay Singh Chautala.

Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh): In Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur, BJP candidate and incumbent Maneka Gandhi is fighting a rather lonely battle to retain her bastion. Her son Varun Gandhi was denied a ticket by BJP from Pilibhit in an indication that the party is not throwing its weight behind the mother-son duo this time. None of the BJP star campaigners, including PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath, campaigned for Maneka in Sultanpur. Her challengers are Samajwadi Party's Ram Bhual Nishad and BSP's Uday Raj Verma. Notably, SP and BSP's candidate picks underscore the parties' effort to woo the Kurmi and Nishad voters in the constituency. Over the years, Congress has won Sultanpur nine times, while BJP has secured five victories.

Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh): SP's Abhay Yadav, who is the cousin of Akhilesh Yadav, is taking on BJP's incumbent and popular Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua' in the Yadav-dominated constituency. Abhay Yadav is one of the few Yadav family members in the fray this year amid SP's fresh social engineering effort to have a diverse line-up of candidates in the general election. Nirahua had wrested the seat from SP in the 2022 by-election after facing a defeat in 2019 at the hands of Akhilesh. Now, Abhay has been given another chance to reclaim the former turf of Akhilesh, since the SP president is a contender from Kannauj this year. Yadavs wield considerable influence in Azamgarh, with 14 out of 19 MPs elected from this community over the years.

Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh): BJP is seeking a hat-trick from the politically crucial constituency and has fielded Neeraj Tripathi from the seat after dropping its incumbent Rita Bahuguna Joshi. Tripathi is the son of former West Bengal governor and former UP assembly speaker Keshari Nath Tripathi. He is relying on his father's legacy to retain the seat for BJP. In 2024, Tripathi is facing INDIA bloc candidate Ujjwal Raman Singh, who is from Congress. Singh, who is the son of senior SP leader Rewati Raman Singh, is also banking on his family legacy to pose a challenge to BJP. Allahabad, now known as Prayagraj, is crucial for BJP given its significance as a Hindu pilgrimage site. In 2019, BJP secured the seat by a huge margin despite a joint challenge from SP and BSP. The BJP's gamble to change its candidate will test the influence of Prime Minister Modi, making this election a crucial referendum on his leadership.

Anantnag-Rajouri (Jammu & Kashmir): Former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti is contesting the elections against National Conference's Mian Altaf Larvi and Apni Party's Zafar Iqbal Khan Manhas in this redrawn seat. The delimitation has brought large parts of Jammu province into the Kashmir constituency and altered the electoral dynamics here. Before delimitation, Anantnag was a stronghold of PDP. The election is not just a battle of prestige for Mufti but a crucial political test for her party PDP which is fighting hard to revive its fortunes in the new landscape post the abrogation of Article 370. However, the elections will not be a cakewalk for Mufti since NC's Mian Altaf is a prominent Gujjar spiritual leader. The Centre's decision to give the ST status to the Pahari community in the region has enraged the Gujjars. Apni Party's Manhas is also a Pahari from Shopian. The presence of these two strong Pahari leaders may bring ethnic fault lines to the forefront on May 25.

Tamluk (West Bengal): The former Left stronghold is witnessing a keen clash between BJP's Abhijit Gangopadhyay and Trinamool Congress's Debangshu Bhattacharya. Gangopadhyay is a former judge of the Calcutta high court, who had resigned from his post and joined BJP ahead of the elections. The ex-judge, whose candidature sparked a lot of buzz in the state, has been a vocal critic of Mamata. TMC's Debangshu is replacing its incumbent candidate Dibyendu Adhikari, who is the brother of former Mamata aide and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

Medinipur (West Bengal): The West Bengal constituency is witnessing a celebrity showdown with fashion designer Agnimitra Paul from BJP taking on actor-turned-politician June Maliah from TMC. The contest here turned interesting when BJP decided to field incumbent Dilip Ghosh from Bardhaman-Durgapur instead of re-nominating him from Medinipur. According to observers, BJP's decision was triggered by the internal power struggle between the camps of Dilip Ghosh and Suvendu Adhikari. Meanwhile, Maliah, who is the MLA from Medinipur, is seen as Mamata's trump card from the seat. The CPI is also in contest and has re-nominated Biplab Bhatta.

Sambalpur (Odisha): In this key Odisha seat, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan of BJP is taking on Pranab Prakash (Bobby) Das from BJD. BJP's Nitesh Ganga Deb won this seat in 2019 in a close contest with his BJD rival. In 2024, BJP has picked Pradhan, who is making a return to electoral politics after his defeat in the 2009 assembly polls. He is also seen as the chief ministerial face of BJP should the party win the assembly elections. Meanwhile, Das, who is the organisational secretary in BJD and among the top leaders in the party, is seen as a strong contender. In 2019, BJP won the seat by a thin margin of just about 9,000 votes. BJD is betting on Das's rich experience and popularity to wrest the seat from BJP.

Puri (Odisha): The temple town is gearing up for an interesting clash between BJP's Sambit Patra, BJD's Arup Patnaik and Congress's Jay Narayan Patnaik. In 2019, the seat witnessed a nail-biting finish between Patra - the fiery spokesperson of BJP - and Pinaki Misra of BJD. The close margin of Misra's victory gave BJP confidence to repose its faith on Patra. However, Patra's recent "slip of tongue" wherein he said that Lord Jagannath is a devotee of PM Modi gave BJD ammunation to mount a scathing attack on BJP. Despite Patra's apology, the remarks may well dent his propects in the state where Lord Jagannath is a highly revered deity. The ruling BJD is also counting on the temple renovation project being carried out by the Naveen Patnaik government to garner votes in the May 25 election. Meanwhile, BJP has launched an attack on the state government over the missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar of the Jagannath temple, which houses the precious ornaments of the deities. The BJD said that Ratna Bhandar will be opened in July as per the orders of the Orissa high court.

Bhubaneswar (Odisha): The capital of Odisha is bracing for a close three-way battle between BJP's incumbent Aparajita Sarangi, BJD's Manmath Routray and Congress's Yasir Nawaz. In 2019, Sarangi defeated her BJP rival Arup Patnaik by a narrow margin. The seat is prestigious for both the parties since it is the capital of the state and development is a big poll plank here.

Ranchi (Jharkhand): The bustling capital of Jharkhand is witnessing a direct clash between BJP incumbent Sanjay Seth and Congress's Yashaswini Sahay. In 2019, Seth secured a comfortable victory over his Congress rival Subodh Kant Sahay. Sanjay Seth began his political career in 2005 with the State Bank of India and later became the chairperson of the Jharkhand State Khadi and Village Industries Board in 2016. After winning the 2019 general elections, he served on key parliamentary committees. Congress nominee Yashaswini Sahay, daughter of veteran politician Subodhkant Sahay, holds advanced law degrees and has a family background in politics and entertainment. Notably. Ranchi has a history of intense BJP-Congress contests going back to the first general election.

Till now, voting has been completed in 25 states and Union territories and 428 constituencies out of 543. The last phase of polling is scheduled on June 1 and counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.