Heavyweights in the fray

New Delhi: Assembly by-elections are being held in seven states - Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal - on Saturday. Elections to a single Lok Sabha seat will also be held. Here's a look at heavyweights and new challengers in the fray and past winners.

UTTAR PRADESH

Candidates:

Raj Babbar: Veteran actor and Congress candidate for the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat. Babbar, who was the Samajwadi Party MP from Agra, left Mulayam Singh to join the Congress. Rahul Gandhi campaigned for him in Firozabad.
 
Dimple Yadav: She is the daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Dimple is a political greenhorn but a strong contender in Firozabad. Her husband Akhilesh Yadav vacated the seat which necessitated the by-election.

SP Singh Baghel: He is the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate for the Firozabad Lok Sabha constituency. Baghel left the SP to join the BSP during the nuclear deal trust vote in Parliament.

Rani Mohini Devi: She is the Congress candidate for the Padrauna Assembly constituency. Rani Mohini is the mother of minister of state in the UPA government RPN Singh.

Swami Prasad Maurya: Maurya is the BSP candidate in Padrauna. He is the president of the BSP state unit.

Amit Puri: The BJP's candidate from Lucknow West is a new challenger. He has been fielded to retain BJP's only Assembly seat in Lucknow.

Past Winners:

Samajwadi Party (SP): Five seats (Etawah, Hainsar Bazaar, Powayan, Isauli, Bharthana)

Congress party: Two seats (Padrauna, Jhansi)

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): Two seats (Lucknow West, Kolasala)

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): Two seats (Rari, Lalitpur)

The Samajwadi won Firozabad in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

WEST BENGAL

Candidates

Ramala Chakraborty: Ramala is the CPM candidate from Belgachia East Assembly constituency. She is the widow of the late CPM leader Subhash Chakraborty, who held this seat from 1977 till his death in August this year. His death necessitated the by-election.

Sujit Bose: He is the Trinamool Congress candidate from Belgachia East. He was once the right hand man of Subhash Chakraborty, but switched to the Trinamool Congress in 2001. He is also the vice chairman of the Dum Dum Municipality run by the Trinamool Congress.

Kaustav Chatterjee: Kaustav of the SFI is a new challenger. He has been fielded by the CPM for the first time from a tough constituency, Alipore, which is traditionally an anti-Left bastion.

Past winners:

Trinamool Congress: Five seats (Kanthi South, Egra, Bongaon, Serampore, Alipore)

Congress party: Two seats (Sujapur, Goalpokhar)

Left: Three seats (Kalchini, Rajpur, Belgachia East)

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Candidate:

Manjit Singh: Manjit is the Congress candidate from the Rohru Assembly constituency. The seat was vacated by Virbhadra Singh after he was elected to the Lok Sabha. It has traditionally been a Congress stronghold and in fact Virbhadra Singh's seat for years.  Manjit's fight is with the BJP candidate, Khushi Ram Balnatah.

Past winners:

Congress party:  Rohru

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): Jawali

In the 2007 election to the 68-member assembly, the BJP won 41, the Congress 23, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) one and Independents three seats. The BSP legislator later joined the BJP.

RAJASTHAN

Candidate

Basanti Devi: The wife of the Congress MP from Udaipur Raghuveer Singh Meena, Basanti Devi, is the party's candidate from the Salumber reserved constituency. Her husband had vacated the seat after his election to the Lok Sabha, necessitating the upcoming by-poll. She is contesting against Amrit Meena of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Basanti Devi has a better chance due to the goodwill her husband enjoyed.

Past winners:

Congress: Salumber, Toda Bhim

KERALA

Candidate:

AP Abdullakutty: Expelled CPM leader AP Abdullakutty is the Congress candidate for the by poll in Kannur. He will contest against Pinarayi Vijayan loyalist MV Jayarajan. The Left is desperate to win Kannur. The last time a CPM leader won this seat was in 1957.

Past winners:

Congress: Ernakulam, Kannur and Alappuzha

CHHATTISGARH 

Tarachand Sahu:  Sahu is a four-time Lok Sabha member of the BJP.  He has filed his nomination from Vaishali Nagar as an Independent after being expelled from the party on charges of anti-party activities. He is considered an influential leader in the OBC community that forms nearly 50 per cent of the state's population. Sahu will take on BJP candidate Jogeshwar Sahu and Congress candidate Bhajan Singh Nirankari on November 7. The by-poll was necessitated after BJP legislator Saroj Pandey was elected to the Lok Sabha.

Past winner:

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP):  Vaishali Nagar