 "Rahul Gandhi")
Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi (File Picture)
The Congress introduced its first checklist of 39 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls on Friday night.
The checklist comprised 17 sitting members of Parliament, together with occasion chief Rahul Gandhi, who will defend his Wayanad seat. The Congress checklist revealed the occasion’s intent to push occasion heavyweights to contest the polls.
Congress Normal Secretary (Organisation) Ok C Venugopal will contest from Kerala’s Alappuzha seat, the one seat of the state’s 20 that the Congress-led United Democratic Entrance (UDF) misplaced within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “Our goal is to win all of the 20 seats in Kerala,” Venugopal stated. He’s presently a Rajya Sabha member, and his time period ends in 2026.
The Congress introduced former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel will contest from the state’s Rajnandgaon seat. Former Chhattisgarh house minister Tamradhwaj Sahu will contest from Mahasamund. Three-term Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor will defend his seat in a contest that can have Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) problem him for the seat.
Venugopal stated the Congress was making an attempt to resolve its variations with its Indian Nationwide Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) allies, together with the Trinamool Congress, in West Bengal. He stated the occasion was approaching the elections with a concentrate on lowering the BJP’s seats to a minimal and was keen to sacrifice its pursuits to attain that goal. “However we count on an analogous stage of dedication from our allies,” Venugopal stated.
The Congress stated of the 39 candidates, 15 had been from the “basic” class, and 24 had been from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Different Backward Lessons (OBCs), and minorities. It stated a dozen of the candidates had been beneath 50 years of age.
Of the 39, the Congress introduced six candidates in Chhattisgarh (11 seats within the state), seven in Karnataka (whole seats 28) and 16 candidates in Kerala. It additionally introduced the title of Mohammed Hamdullaha Sayeed from Lakshadweep. Son of Congress chief PM Sayeed, he represented the seat in 2009. The seat is presently held by the Nationalist Congress Celebration’s Mohammed Faizal, who’s dealing with a legal case.
In 2019, Rahul Gandhi contested additionally from Amethi, the constituency he had represented since 2004, however misplaced to the BJP’s Smriti Irani. The Congress didn’t announce any of its candidates from Uttar Pradesh, the place there may be hypothesis that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may contest from Rae Bareli after her mom, Sonia Gandhi, was elected to the Rajya Sabha final month.
First Revealed: Mar 08 2024 | 9:50 PM IST
