More than a dozen former Chief Ministers - mostly from BJP - and three from Congress including Digvijaya Singh to sweat it out

The BJP's list of candidates for the battle of 2024 has several former Chief Ministers. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is one of them. He is seeking re-election from BJP's traditional stronghold Vidisha -- a seat he represented before becoming Chief Minister in November 2005.

From Haryana, not surprisingly it is ex-CM Manohorlal Khattar - said to be a personal friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was replaced as CM only recently and now fielded from Karnal. In Assam, it is former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal contesting from Dibrugarh. Sonowal is in fact the first BJP Chief Minister and he represented Dibrugarh in Lok Sabha earlier as an AGP lawmaker. From northeast - BJP has Biplab Kumar Deb from Tripura. 

From Andhra Pradesh, BJP has fielded former CM Kiran Kumar Reddy -- who was actually a Congress Chief Minister but is in the Lotus party now. He will be trying his luck from Rajampet. Notably, BJP is contesting six Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh as an alliance partner of the TDP.  Former Union Minister Ms Purandeswari, daughter of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder and former Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao, will contest from Rajahmundry.

There are a few others such as Arjun Munda from Jharkhand and ex Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai. In Uttar Pradesh there is party stalwart Rajnath Singh, the Defence Minister and the sitting Lucknow MP. There is another UP man in this category - Jagadambika Pal -- a former CM of the 1990s and a well known turncoat. 

From the Congress stock comes Digvijaya Singh in Madhya Pradesh. Singh had lost Bhopal seat in 2019 and is now Rajya Sabha member. In Arunachal Pradesh, former CM Nabam Tuki has been fielded from Arunachal Pradesh West and he will take on BJP's sitting member and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju. From Karnataka, former CM H D Kumaraswamy of JD-S will be trying his luck from Mandya.  

Uttarakhand's famous temple city Haridwar constituency will be hot seat for veterans this year.

The seat will see two stalwarts ex-CM Harish Rawat from Congress and Trivendra Rawat, also an ex-Chief Minister of BJP fight an uneasy battle. The fact of the matter - however is Harish Rawat is not contesting himself.  

But for him, the battle has become a question of prestige as his son Virendra Rawat is contesting for the seat Harish Rawat had lost to former Chief Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank in 2019. Nishank has been dropped by the saffron party this year.