It will be starting from the scratch for several leaders, big and small, with the redrawing of Parliamentary constituencies as their pocket boroughs have disappeared following the delimitation exercise.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kalyan Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and film stars Dharmendra and Raj Babbar would have to find new seats as their traditional ones have become reserved constituencies.
Chatterjee's Bolpur in West Bengal, which he represented for several terms, would miss him now. Same is the case of Latur in Maharashtra, which returned Patil for two decades up to 2004, to the Lok Sabha.
In Uttar Pradesh, Akbarpur, a reserved seat once represented by Chief Minister Mayawati, has now become a general category seat.
Etawah, once held by former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, will now become a reserved seat for Scheduled Caste candidates.
Similarly Bulandshah, currently represented by former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Kalyan Singh, has been reserved for SC candidates.
Jan Morcha leader Raj Babbar, who won the Agra seat as a Samajwadi Party nominee, would not be able to contest from the same constituency as it has also become reserved. Similar is the fate of Dharmendra, whose Jat-dominated Bikaner seat in Rajasthan is now reserved.
Young Congress Member of Parliament Sachin Pilot from Dausa in Rajasthan will have to look for a fresh constituency as the seat has been reserved for SC.
Similar is the case with All India Congress Committee Secretary Jitin Prasada, son of late Congress leader Jitendra Prasada, as his constituency Shahjahanpur in UP would now become reserved for SC candidates.
Bellary constituency in Karnataka, which witnessed a historic fight between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP stalwart Sushma Swaraj in 1999, has now become a reserved constituency.
In Bihar, LJP leader and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's brother Ramchandra Paswan, representing Rosera seat, faces a political challenge as he has to look for another constituency. Rosera will cease to exist from the next polls.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav also faces a similar fate with his constituency Gopalganj no longer remaining a general category seat.
In Andhra Pradesh, Union Minister D Purandeswari's Bapatla constituency has become reserved, while Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy's Miryalguda has disappeared.
Union Minister Panabaka Laxmi's Nellore seat has now been made a general category seat.
