 "Lok Sabha election 2019: Top BJP, Congress brass among newly-released star campaigners' list for Bihar, Maharashtra")
The lists of star campaigners released on Tuesday by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress point to a show of strength by the parties in Bihar and Maharashtra respectively ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. [caption id=“attachment_5606231” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File images of Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] The BJP listed 42 leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers and prominent state leaders, who will campaign in the state in the first two phases of the polls. Apart from Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, JP Nadda, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan and Smriti Irani and Chief Ministers of various states, including Yogi Adityanath and Sivraj Singh Chouhan will woo voters in the Janata Dal (United)-ruled state. BJP will face a Rashtriya Janata Dal-led alliance in the state. Of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the RJD will contest in 20 constituencies and the Congress, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP), Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) will be given nine, five, three and three seats respectively.
BJP releases list of 42 star campaigners for phase 1 and 2 of #LokSabhaElections2019 from Bihar. pic.twitter.com/xdcS3U9rU7
— ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2019
The Congress too will have 40 of its top leaders campaigning in Maharashtra in the first and second phases of the general elections. In a state where the BJP and Shiv Sena have entered into an alliance for the upcoming election, senior leaders, including Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Chavan, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Prithviraj Chavan and KC Venugopal will be making the poll pitch. Newly-appointed state Congress chief Milind Deora and former MP Sanjay Nirupam, apart from former Maharashtra chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan are the state-level leaders in this list. Cricketer-turned-politician Mohammed Azharuddin has been included in the list of star campaigners for the party for Maharashtra.
Congress party releases list of star campaigners for the first and second phase of #LokSabhaElections2019 from Maharashtra. pic.twitter.com/XcPUzSQDYb
— ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2019
The BJP-Shiv Sena coalition came to power in the 2014 general election. Opposition parties have allied in the state to contest from the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies. The Congress will contest from 24 seats, NCP from 20, Swabhimani Shetkari Sangh gets two seats, Bahujan Vikash Aghadi gets one seat and one seat for independent candidate Ravi Rana. The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have also entered into an alliance to contest in the state and with the aim of providing the people with a third front to vote for. The Lok Sabha polls will be held over seven phases between 11 April and 19 May. The polls in Bihar will be held on 11, 18, 23 and 29 April and 6, 12 and 19 May. Maharashtra will vote in four phases 11, 18, 23 and 29 April. Counting of votes in all states will be held on 23 May.
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