Amethi, Rae Bareli, Mumbai North-Central: Know all about high-profile seats in Phase 5

Voting is all set to take place in 49 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 6 states and 2 Union Territories for the fifth phase of the ongoing general elections on May 20. In this phase, polling will be conducted in 5 seats in Bihar, 1 seat in Jammu & Kashmir, 3 seats in Jharkhand, 1 seat in Ladakh, 13 seats in Maharashtra, 5 seats in Odisha, 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, and 7 seats in West Bengal.

Of all the 49 Lok Sabha seats going to polls on May 20, the key constituencies to watch are Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai North and Kalyan in Maharashtra, and Saran in Bihar. 

Top seats to watch in Lok Sabha elections 2024 phase 5

1. Amethi: Smriti Irani is eyeing a second term in this erstwhile Gandhi family bastion. The firebrand BJP leader is all set to fight it out with Congress' Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi. In 2019, Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi by a margin of over 55,000 votes in the constituency. 

2. Rae Bareli: Rahul Gandhi is contesting from this Gandhi family pocket borough for the first time ever. Besides Rae Bareli, the Gandhi scion has also contested from Kerala's Wayanad. This time, Gandhi is pitted against BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh. In 2019, Sonia Gandhi defeated Dinesh Pratap Singh by a margin of more than 1.67 lakh votes. 

3. Saran: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and ex-Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Rohini Acharya is all set to make her electoral debut from this seat. She will be challenged by sitting MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who is eyeing a third term. In 2019, Rudy won from this seat with a margin of more than 1.38 lakh votes. 

4. Mumbai North: Union minister Piyush Goyal will be making his foray into the world of electoral politics from this BJP stronghold. In this constituency, Goyal will be pitted against actor-politician Bhushan Patil. In the 2019 general elections, BJP's Gopal C. Shetty defeated former actor-politician Urmila Matondkar by a massive margin of over 4.65 lakh votes. 

5. Mumbai North-Central: Reputed public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, responsible for Ajmal Kasab's execution, is making his debut in the poll race from this BJP pocket borough. Nikam will be faced with stiff opposition from Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Varsha Gaikwad. In 2019, BJP's Poonam Mahajan defeated Congress' Priya Dutt by a margin of more than 1.30 lakh votes. 

6. Kalyan: This seat will witness a Sena vs Sena fight as Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has fielded his son Dr Shrikant Shinde against Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Vaishali Darekar-Rane, a former Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Dr Shrikant Shinde won from the seat by a margin of more than 3.44 lakh votes.