Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav: High-profile battles and contenders in Lok Sabha elections phase 3

Gandhinagar is one of the 26 Lok Sabha Constituencies going to poll on April 23 in the state of Gujarat. Gujarat is a prestige battle for BJP after being cut down to size in the assembly elections in 2017 by a resurgent Congress. It’s Amit Shah and Narendra Modi’s home state, and all eyes will be on Shah after PM Modi declined to contest from Vadodara as he had done in 2014.

Shah has replaced veteran BJP leader L K Advani had won the Gandhinagar seat six times.

The Congress, which had in the past fielded popular figures like former CEC T N Seshan and actor Rajesh Khanna from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, has this time given ticket to its two-time MLA, C J Chavda, for whom taking on BJP chief Amit Shah seems to be an uphill task. Chavda, an MLA from Gandhinagar North seat, belongs to the Thakor community which has been a strong supporter of the Congress.

Anand – the Milk Capital of India -  is one of the 26 Lok Sabha Constituencies going to poll on April 23 in the state of Gujarat. Bharatsinh Solanki, the Congress' Anand Lok Sabha candidate, is confident of wresting the seat from the BJP and claims it is his party's safest bet in Gujarat. He said if the Congress cannot win Anand Lok Sabha seat, in central Gujarat, then it can't win any of the 26 seats in the state. In the 2014 polls, the BJP had blanked out the Congress winning all 26 Lok Sabha seats.

The BJP, possibly sensing anti-incumbency, dropped sitting MP Dilip Patel, who had defeated Solanki, a former Union minister, riding the Narendra Modi wave. Anand has traditionally been a Congress stronghold, the party having won from here ten times, while the BJP managed to wrest it in 1989, 1999 and 2014.

Sashi Tharoor of the Congress is seeking third term in the Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram seat. The BJP has fielded former Mizoram Governor Kumanam Rajasekharan while C Divakaran is contesting on CPI(M) ticket. Tharoor, a diplomat-turned-politician and a former Union Minister, is facing a tough battle this time with BJP's Kummanam taking a leading edge in the constituency, according to opinion polls.

In 2014 elections, Shashi Tharoor had just held on to the seat and won it with a margin of just 15,000 votes. 

Wayanad is basking in the national attention it is receiving in the wake of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's candidature from this Lok Sabha constituency. Considered a Congress stronghold, the UDF (which comprises Congress, Muslim League and Kerala Congress-M) has won the constituency in both parliamentary elections since it was carved out in 2009. However, the victory margin of UDF candidate had come down to 20,000 in 2014, compared to over 1.5 lakh in 2009. 

Not just the majority here, the party is expecting Gandhi's foray into Wayanad to have a ripple effect in all the 20 seats in the state.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has fielded Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) president Thushar Vellappally from the parliamentary constituency.

The BJP, trying to open its account in Kerala, has fielded Malayalam star Suresh Gopi from Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency. He is facing Rajaji Mathew Thomas of CPI(M) and Congress' TN Prathapan.

Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency is the bastion of AIUDF whose chief Badruddin Ajmal increased his impressive margin of 1.84 lakh in 2009 to over 2.30 lakh in 2014 to register a handsome win. But five years down the line, there seems to be disillusionment with AIUDF among its core voters, the Bengali speaking Muslims of Lower Assam. Can the perfume king hold on to his seat even if with a lesser margin is the big question in Dhubri. 

Key constituencies to go to polls in the third phase in Karnataka include Gulbarga, where Mallikarjun Kharge is pitted against Umesh Jadhav, who ahead of polls joined the BJP quitting Congress and as MLA.

In 14 constituencies that will go to the polls in the second phase on April 23, the BJP is contesting all the seats. Congress and JD(S) that are facing the polls in alliance have fielded their candidates in 12 and two constituencies respectively.

In Maharashtra, state BJP president Raosaheb Danve is in the fray against Vilas Autade of the Congress in Jalna. Sitting Jalna MP Raosaheb Danve of the BJP will look to continue his winning spree in this Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra where the Congress is hoping to make an impact by raising water scarcity and farm issues.

Danve has been winning the Jalna parliamentary constituency since 1999. However, the BJP leader faced nervous moments when his local political rival Arjun Khotkar of the Shiv Sena announced a few weeks ago that he will contest against the sitting MP despite the two saffron parties having a pre-poll alliance.

In 2014, Danve had defeated Autade by 2.633 lakh votes. This time, however, the challenge does not seem easy for him. 

In Baramati, Supriya Sule, the daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, is contesting against BJP's Kanchan Kul. Baramati Lok Sabha constituency has been a Pawar pocketborough since 1991. Starting from Ajit Pawar to then Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule, in the last two terms, it has been domination of one family for close to three decades. 

Facing off against Supriya Sule is BJP's Kanchal Rahul Kaul. Kul, wife of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha MLA Rahul Kul, is a novice but comes from a political family. Apart from husband who is MLA, mother-in-law Ranjana Kul was NCP MLA from Daund and her father-in-law Subhash Kul was Congress MLA and a Sharad Pawar loyalist.

Mainpuri is one of the most high-profile Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh with the seat being held by a member of Samajwadi Party's first family since 2004 when Mulayam Singh Yadav won it for the first time in the general elections. The election in Mainpuri is more than a prestige battle for Samajwadi Party as it is the home of party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Saifai, which has become synonymous with Mulayam family, is part of Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency. 

The third-phase campaigning saw an unprecedented spectacle of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati sharing dias in Mainpuri after burying their hatchet after 24 years of Lucknow state guest house episode involving an attack by SP workers on Mayawati for withdrawing support from the Samajwadi Party-led government. The BSP supremo sought vote for the SP founder, sending a strong signal of new bonhomie between the two allies, which threatens to upset the BJP's poll cart in Uttar Pradesh. 

Mulayam is facing BJP's Prem Singh Shakya in this election.

One of the most closely watched battles of not only in Uttar Pradesh but in India, Rampur Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls on April 23. 

The only Muslim majority district in UP, Rampur has been won by the BJP only thrice. Once at the height of Ayodhya movement in 1991, again in 1998 when it fielded a Muslim candidate - Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and in 2014 at the back of the Narendra Modi wave. This time, however, the BJP has dropped its sitting MP Nepal Singh and has fielded Jaya Prada who represented the city in Lok Sabha twice - 2004-09 and 2009-14 - as Samajwadi Party MP before she fell out of favours with Azam Khan. 

The campaigning for Rampur seat witnessed a new low with SP leader Azam Khan making an "indecent" remark, targeting his opponent Jaya Prada in Rampur by allegedly speculating on the colour of her underwear and attracting the saffron party wrath, besides that of the Election Commission and the National Commission for Women. 

Khan who also faced a 72-hour ban by the Election Commission of India on his campaigning after making the underwear jibe was among the three other leaders, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP supremo Mayawati, who faced the poll panel's wrath for making "provocative" speeches.

With two contestants exchanging words and a joint rally by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo Mayawati, Rampur has become one of the most keenly watched battles this election. 

the fate of four family members of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav clan hangs in electoral balance with his rebel younger brother and Pragateesheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Singh Yadav fighting it out with his nephew, Ram Gopal Yadav son Akshay Yadav for the Firozabad seat.

While Mulayam Singh Yadav himself is contesting from his home turf Mainpuri, his another nephew Dharmendra Yadav, son of SP patriarch's little known brother Abhay Ram Yadav, from Badaun. A three-term MP, Dharmendra Yadav is seeking a fourth term from Badaun.

With a large area of the Rohilkhand region considered a stronghold of Samajwadi Party, the state's trilateral alliance of the SP, BSP and RLD combine has left no stone unturned in campaigning in this region.

Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency is a bastion of Maneka Gandhi who has represented the seat in Lok Sabha six times, first winning it in 1989 on a Janata Dal ticket. She has vacated the seat for her son Varun who is contesting from here for the second time. 

Varun, who was even sent to jail for hate speech during the election campaigning, won with a margin of 2.8 lakh votes. Varun had allegedly made inflammatory remarks against Muslims in his speeches at public meetings in Pilibhit during the 2009 Lok Sabha election campaign. 

Video recordings of the controversial speech apparently showed Gandhi as saying that he would "cut off the hand that is raised against Hindus ... If you want to save the Hindu religion, vote for me. If a Hindu doesn’t vote for me, he would be betraying his religion.”

He is back in Pilibhit 10 years and is more restrained in his speeches this time. 

The temple town of Puri is witnessing a fierce battle among spokespersons in the Lok Sabha election. Congress has fielded its Odisha unit media cell chairman Satyaprakash Nayak who is taking on BJP's national spokesperson Sambit Patra and incumbent BJD MP Pinaki Mishra, a spokesman of Naveen Patnaik's party. 

Patra's main competitor is Pinaki Mishra who is a three-time MP from Puri, including one stint as Congress legislator. Mishra hopes the work done by him and goodwill enjoyed by BJD will be enough to save the day of May 23, when Puri votes. 

The BJP has in its election manifesto for Odisha promised to make Puri the "spiritual capital" of the country.