More than 2,700 political parties are fielding their candidates in the elections that began yesterday.
Elections are being held in 7 phases over the next month and a half in various states of India.
Let’s take a look at the main political leaders heading into the world’s biggest election battle.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, affiliated with the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is leading the race for power, contesting from UP, followed by his own party of choice from Gujarat.
BJP leaders Rajnath Singh (Lakhanna), Smriti Irani (Amethi), Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North), Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur), Suresh Gopi (Kerila), Tejaswi Surya (Bengaluru) are contesting the election from Dangal.
Another is opposition figure and Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while his mother Sonia Gandhi is not contesting the election this time.
Other prominent leaders of the Indian National Congress are Seshi Tharoor, KC Venugopal, DK Suresh who are contesting the elections this year.
Supriya Swale of the National Congress, Dimple Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Dayandhi Maran of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Chandrashekhar Azad of the Azad Samaj are among the key leaders who will contest the polls from tomorrow
