Malkajgiri biggest Lok Sabha seat, Lakshadweep smallest

Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat in Andhra Pradesh is the biggest constituency in the country in terms of votes with 29.53 lakh voters while Bangalore North Lok Sabha seat is the fourth largest with 22.29 lakh voters.

As per the Election Commission release, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh with 22.63 lakh voters is in third position, Unnao in Uttar Pradesh with 21.10 lakh voters is in fifth position while North West Delhi seat, with 20.93 lakh, is the sixh largest segment in the country.

Bangalore North has high profile candidate BJP’s Sadananda Gowda while Raj Babbar (Congress) and former Army chief General V K Singh ( BJP) are contesting from Ghaziabad.

Of the five smallest constituencies, Lakshadweep is smallest with just 47,972 vo5
ers, where Congress sitting member M Hamdulla Sayeed is seeking reelection and Daman and Diu is the second smallest with 1.02 lakh voters. Ladakh (1.59 lakh voters) and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1.88 lakh voters) are in third and fourth smallest segments respectively while Andaman and Nicobar Islands is in fifth position with 2.57 lakh voters.

Sudden prominence

Dubbed as the Seemandhra pocket in the Telangana region, Malkajgiri has gained sudden prominence in an Andhra Pradesh that is in the throes of bifurcation and is being sought by top leaders as it is considered safe to contest.

Several names, including TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and former health minister D L Ravindra Reddy, are planning to contest here as the constituency has the largest number of Seemandhra settlers. 

Malkajgiri, close to Hyderabad, has the distinction of having the highest number of urban and educated middle class voters.

The constituency is represented by Union Minister of State for Road Transport Sarve Satyanarayana. However, till now no major parties have announced their candidates for this constituency.

Union Minister Krishna Tirath is the candidate from North West Delhi where AAP has fielded its former minister in Delhi government Rakhi Birla. BJP has fielded new entrant Udit Raj, a Dalit leader, from the seat. Congress MP Annu Tandon is seeking re-election from Unnao seat.