Cong’s 3rd list for LS polls: Kharge’s son-in-law to contest from Gulbarga | Lok Sabha Elections News

The Congress released its third list of Lok Sabha candidates comprising 57 seats, which mentioned that the party had left Rajasthan’s Sikar seat for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to contest, and also confirmed that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will not contest from Karnataka’s Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat, which he represented in 2009 and 2014 but lost in 2019.

In Gulbarga (Kalaburagi), Kharge’s son-in-law Radhrakrishna Doddamani will contest. Of the 17 candidates that the Congress announced for Karnataka, it has named five candidates who are children of ministers in the Congress-ruled Karnataka government.

Minister Satish Jarkiholi’s daughter Priyanka Jarkiholi will contest from Chikodi, Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya Reddy is the candidate from Bangalore South against BJP’s Tejasvi Surya.

Mansoor Ali Khan, son of former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan will contest from Bangalore Central and Prabha Mallikarjun, wife of minister SS Mallikarjun, will contest from Devangere. M V Rajeev Gowda, the Vice-Chairman of the Karnataka State Policy and Planning Commission, will contest from Bangalore North against the BJP’s Shobha Karandlaje.

From Maharashtra’s Solapur, the Congress candidate will be three-term legislator Praniti Shinde. Her father, former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde represented the seat thrice, but lost in 2014 and 2019.

Of the seven candidates that the Congress announced from Maharashtra, three are legislators, including Praniti Shinde. Kasbapeth legislator Ravindra Dhangekar will contest from Pune and Daryapur MLA Balwant Wankhede from Amaravati. Shahu Chhatrapati, from the Kolhapur royal family, will contest from the Kolhapur seat.

The list consists of Congress candidates for seats across seven states and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

From West Bengal’s Baharampur, the Congress has again fielded its Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. He has represented the seat continuously since 1999. For the 2024 elections, Chowdhury faces former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, the Trinamool Congress candidate on the seat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won Baharampur and Maldaha Dakshin seats of the 42 in West Bengal.

In Telangana, the Congress announced five candidates, including three turncoats. Danam Nagender, a sitting Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislator, who recently joined the Congress, is the party’s candidate from Secunderabad. G Ranjith Reddy, a BRS Lok Sabha MP, who crossed over to the Congress earlier this month, will contest from Chevella. In Malkajgiri, where Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy won in 2019, the party has fielded Sunitha Mahender Reddy.

First Published: Mar 21 2024 | 11:50 PM IST