New Delhi: As India braces for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, preparations are underway across the nation for the seven-phase parliamentary polls. The result for the 18th Lok Sabha will be declared on June 4. The Lok Sabha elections will determine the composition of the central government for a five-year term. A party or coalition must secure a simple majority of 272 seats to form the government in India. In the previous elections in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinched 303 seats, while the main opposition, the Indian National Congress (INC), secured 52 seats.
The elections will be conducted in seven phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1 to ensure adequate security at polling stations across the vast nation. Voters will use their franchise through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), a technology introduced in India in 1982 and widely adopted since the early 2000s.
As India gears up for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, several former chief ministers including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Digvijaya Singh, Omar Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, HD Kumaraswamy, Charanjit Singh Channi, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Bhupesh Baghel, Manohar Lal Khattar and Biplab Kumar Deb and others have thrown their hats into the political ring, vying for parliamentary seats across the country.
Here's a closer look at some of the notable contenders:
Former Chief Ministers contesting the Lok Sabha Elections 2024:
| S. number |
List of former CMs contesting Lok Sabha polls 2024
|
Constituency (State) |
| 1. | Narendra Modi (BJP): He was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014. | Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh |
| 2. | Rajnath Singh (BJP): Singh was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2000 to 2002. | Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh |
| 3. | Shivraj Singh Chouhan (BJP): Chouhan was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh from 2005 to 2018 and again from 2020 to 2023. | Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh |
| 4. | Manohar Lal Khattar (BJP): He was the Haryana Chief Minister from 2014 to 2024. | Karnal in Haryana |
| 5. | Arjun Munda (BJP): He was the Jharkhand Chief Minister from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2010 to 2013.
|
Khunti in Jharkhand |
| 6. | Jagadish Shettar (BJP): He was the Karnataka Chief Minister from 2012 to 2013. | Belgaum in Karnataka |
| 7. | Basavaraj Bommai (BJP): He was the Karnataka Chief Minister from 2021 to 2023. |
Haveri in Karnataka |
| 8. | Trivendra Singh Rawat (BJP): Rawat was the Uttarakhand Chief Minister from 2017 to 2021. |
Haridwar in Uttarakhand |
| 9. | HD Kumaraswamy (JDS): He was the Chief Minister of Karnataka from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2018 to 2019. | Mandya in Karnataka |
| 10. | Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy (BJP): Reddy was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh from 2010 to 2014. | Rajampet in Andhra Pradesh |
| 11. | Sarbananda Sonowal (BJP): He was the Chief Minister of Assam from 2016 to 2021. | Dibrugarh in Assam |
| 12. | Biplab Kumar Deb (BJP): Deb was the Chief Minister of Tripura from 2018 to 2022. | Tripura West in Tripura |
| 13. | O Paneerselvam (Independent backed by BJP): OPS was the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister from 2001 to 2002, 2014 to 2015 and again for a brief period between 2016 to 2017. |
Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu |
| 14. | Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM-S): He was the Chief Minister of Bihar from 2014 to 2015. | Gaya in Bihar |
| 15. | Digvijaya Singh (Congress): Digvijaya was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh from 1993 to 2003. | Rajgarh in Madhya Pradesh |
| 16. | Bhupesh Baghel (Congress): Baghel was the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister from 2018 to 2023. |
Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh |
| 17. | Omar Abdullah (JKNC): Omar was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2009 to 2015. | Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir |
| 18. | Mehbooba Mufti (JKPDP): Mehbooba was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2016 to 2018. |
Anantnag-Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir |
| 19. | Charanjit Singh Channi (Congress): Channi was the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2021 to 2022. |
Jalandhar in Punjab |
| 20. | Ghulam Nabi Azad (DPAP): Azad was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008. |
Anantnag-Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir |
| 21. | Nabam Tuki (Congress): Tuki was the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh twice from 2011 to 2016 and again for a brief period in 2016. |
Arunachal West in Arunachal Pradesh |
| 22. | V Vaithilingam (Congress): He was the Puducherry Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2008 to 2011. |
Puducherry |
BJP's Jagdambika Pal is again contesting from the Domariyaganj constituency in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. He was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for one day in 1998. However, his term had been declared unconstitutional by the Allahabad High Court.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress party (Former Haryana CM) and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (Former CM of Uttar Pradesh) are also likely to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
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