The seven-phased national elections begin on Thursday and Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh, which polls in the first phase, is set for a clash of heavyweights - Rashtriya Lok Dal Chief Ajit Singh and BJP leader Sanjeev Balyan, the sitting lawmaker here. Months before the general elections in 2014, Muzaffarnagar witnessed one of the most violent riots in its history. Sixty people were killed and about 50,000 were displaced in the September 2013 violence. In the Lok Sabha polls, held about six months later, BJP's Sanjeev Balyan defeated Bahujan Samajwadi Party's Kadir Rana by a margin of more than four lakh votes.