Lok Sabha 2024: Key BJP vs Congress contests to watch out for as parties release two candidate lists

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have so far released two lists of candidates for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The BJP released candidates for 267 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress released names of 82 candidates. The general elections will take place for a total of 543 Lok Sabha seats.

In the first list released on March 2, the BJP announced names of 195 candidates. It included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union ministers Rajanath Singh and Smriti Irani. In its second list, the party declared names of 72 candidates, including that of former Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar and Union ministers Anurag Thakur and Piyush Goyal.

Meanwhile, the Congress released its first list of 39 candidates on March 8, which included names of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, DK Suresh and Shashi Tharoor. The party's second list released on March 12 had names of Gaurav Gogoi, Nakul Nath and Vaibhav Gehlot.

With the announcement of candidates, the picture is getting clearer on the seats which will see a direct contest between the BJP and Congress. Both the political parties have released names of a few prominent leaders and stalwarts.

After the BJP and the Congress released two list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls, it's now clear that Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar will fight against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Health minister Mansukhbhai Mandaviya is up against Congress's Lalitbhai Vasoya and DK Suresh will be contesting against BJP's Manjunath in Bangalore Rural. 

Here's a look at key contests between top leaders of BJP and Congress, which will be watched out for in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.