Rajnath Singh to Rahul Gandhi: Key candidates in phase 5 of Lok Sabha polls

Defence minister and BJP candidate Rajnath Singh will face Samajwadi Party candidate Ravidas Mehrotra in the Lucknow seat from UP. Back in 2019, Rajnath Singh had defeated Samajwadi Party Poonam Shatrughan Sinha.

Rahul Gandhi, who also contested the 18th Lok Sabha polls from the Kerala's Wayanad seat, is facing Congress defector and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP in Raebareli.

The contest for Amethi seat will be intense battle between Congress's Kishori Lal Sharma and Union minister Smriti Irani in Amethi. This time instead of a Gandhi family member, the Congress is fielded long time loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma.

Kishori Lal Sharma, a close associate and loyalist of the Gandhi family, is originally from Punjab's Ludhiana. He has been working for the Congress Party in Amethi for years and is pitted against Smriti Irani.

Contesting for the first time in Lok Sabha polls, Union minister Piyush Goyal is all set to give a tough fight to Congress's Bhushan Patil from the Mumbai North seat in Maharashtra.

LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan is aiming to carry forward father Ram Vilas Paswan's legacy. He is pitted against RJD's Shiv Chandra Ram in Hajipur. From 1977 to 2014, the seat was won eight times by Ram Vilas Paswan, who lost only twice, in 1984 and 2009.

The seat, Kaiserganj in UP , belonged to outgoing MP Brij Bhushan Singh. But the ruling BJP party decided to pass the ticket to former WFI president's son, Karan Bhushan Singh.

Rohini Acharya, the daughter of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, is contesting against BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran in Bihar. BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy recorded resounding wins against Lalu Prasad's kin in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Bollywood actor turned politician Ajaz Mohammad Safi Khan, well known as Ajaz Khan, rose to prominence after appearing in the reality TV show ‘Bigg Boss’. He is currently contending for the Mumbai North Central seat in Maharashtra independently.

National Conference (NC) leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah is pitted against Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference (PC) and Mir Mohammad Fayaz of Peoples Democratic Party in Baramullah.