Over a dozen former chief ministers in LS poll fray

'Yeh dil maange more' seems to be mantra for over two dozen former chief ministers of various states who are contesting upcoming Lok Sabha elections on different party tickets.

These include BJP veterans Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj, Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sushilkumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan and Capt Amarinder Singh, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Rabri Devi and Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal.

Interestingly, two serving chief ministers -- Narendra Modi (Gujarat) and Neiphiu Rio (Nagaland) -- are also contesting Lok Sabha elections, spread over nine phases and starting on Monday.

BJP chief Rajnath Singh, who is contesting from Lucknow seat, was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh between October 28, 2000, and March 7, 2002. Swaraj, former Delhi chief minister from October 13 to December 3, 1998, is fighting polls from Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha constituency.

Both Singh and Swaraj are sitting MPs, from the Ghaziabad seat in Uttar Pradesh and Vidisha, respectively.

Union Health Minister Azad is contesting from Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur constituency on a Congress ticket.

Azad was the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister between November 2, 2005, and July 11, 2008. In Maharashtra, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is also in the poll fray from Solapur constituency.

Shinde, the sitting MP from the seat, was Maharashtra chief minister between January 2003 and October 2004.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan is contesting from Nanded. He was Maharashtra chief minister between 2008 and 2010.

In Punjab, Amarinder Singh is contesting from Amritsar as a Congress candidate. Singh was the chief minister of the state between February 26, 2002, and March 1, 2007.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is contesting from Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri constituency, represented by him in the lower house of Parliament. Yadav was the state chief minister for three times -- from December 5, 1989-June 24, 1991, December 4, 1993-June 3, 1995, and August 29, 2003-May 12, 2007.

Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi is contesting from Bihar's Saran constituency. She was Bihar chief minister between 2000 and 2005.

Also in the poll fray is AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, who was Delhi chief minister between December 28, 2013, to February 14, 2014, and is contesting from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi constituency.

Kejriwal is fighting against Modi, who is in his third term as the chief minister of Gujarat.

Present Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio is contesting from the lone Lok Sabha seat in the state as his party, Naga Peoples Front's, candidate.

As many as six former chief ministers are contesting from Karnataka, three from Uttarakhand and two each from Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha.

The six contesting from Karnakata are B S Yeddyurappa, D V Sadananda Gowda, Dharam Singh, Veerappa Moily, H D Devegowda and his son, H D Kumaraswamy.

Yeddyurappa and Gowda, both BJP candidates, are contesting from Karnataka's Shimoga and Bangalore north constituencies, respectively.

Congress has fielded Dharam Singh from Bidar and Moily (the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas) from the Chikkballapur seat. Janta Dal (Secular) chief H D Devegowda's son Kumaraswamy is contesting against Moily.

Devegowda, who is also a former prime minister and a winning MP, is contesting Lok Sabha polls again from Hassan.

In Uttarakhand, former BJP chief ministers B C Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank are also contesting Lok Sabha polls.

Khanduri is a BJP candidate from Garhwal, Koshyari from Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar and Nishank from Hardwar.

Former BJP chief minister Shanta Kumar is fighting the polls from Himachal Pradesh's Kangra seat. Kumar was the state chief minister between 1990-92.

In Jharkhand, former chief minister Shibu Soren is contesting from Dumka seat as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate against Babu Lal Marandi. Marandi, who is also a former CM of the state, is contesting from his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) party.

In Bihar, Ram Sundar Das from JD-U, is in the poll fray. Das, who was the CM between 1979-80, is contesting from Hajipur constituency against Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan.

In Odisha, sitting MP and former CM Hemananda Biswal is contesting from Sundargarh seat on a Congress ticket. Another former CM, Giridhar Gamang, is contesting from Koraput seat, also on a Congress ticket.

Former Meghalaya Chief Minister P A Sangma is also contesting from state's Tura seat from his National Peoples Party.

In Gujarat, Modi's critic Shankarsinh Vaghela is contesting from Sabarkantha seat as Congress candidate.

Vaghela was Gujarat CM between 1996-1997.

In Chhattisgarh, Congress' Ajit Jogi is fighting elections from Mahasamund. Jogi was the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh from 2000-2003 after it was carved out from Madhya Pradesh.

Image: BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, one of the former chief ministers, who will be contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha election