Cong names 1st 39 LS poll candidates, Rahul to contest from Wayanad again
NEW DELHI: The former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from his present seat of Wayanad in Kerala. The party announced the names of 39 candidates in its first list for the Parliamentary elections.
Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal and party Treasurer Ajay Maken announced the first list of candidates on Friday, a day after the Congress Central Election Committee held a meeting here.
The list has names of the present MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor from the same constituency and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel who has been picked for his Lok Sabha electoral debut from Rajnandgaon seat in the state. Tharoor, a former diplomat, has held the seat from Kerala’s capital for three terms.
It was not clear whether Rahul Gandhi will also contest from Amethi in UP, his old turf. In 2019 he lost to Smriti Irani in Amethi but entered the Lok Sabha from Wayanad. Rahul Gandhi made his Lok Sabha debut from Amethi in 2004 and won the seat thrice till he was ousted from the family’s stronghold by Irani in the last elections.
The names were announced mainly for some southern and northeastern states but also include those from Chhattisgarh and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. The bulk of the candidates - 16 — have been announced from Kerala, where the Congress is likely to leave the remaining four seats for its allies.
Out of 39 candidates, 15 belong to the general category and 24 to SC/ST/OBC and minorities, they said at a press conference. “The list is a blend of experience, youth and workers from party organisations like NSUI and the Youth Congress,’’ Ajay Maken said.
Seven names have been announced from Karnataka, six from Chhattisgarh and four from Telangana. The remaining are from Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Lakshadweep.
Among the candidates declared by the party after the CEC cleared it, include Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon, Shivkumar Dahariya from Jangir-Champa (SC), Jyotsana Mahant from Korba, Tamradhwaj Sahu from Mahasamund, Rajendra Sahu from Durg, Vikas Upadhyay from Raipur (all from Chhattisgarh).
Besides, D K Suresh, brother of Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar, has been fielded once again from the Bangalore Rural constituency, H R Algur (Raju) from Bijapur (SC), Anandaswamy Gaddadevara Math from Haveri, Geetha Shivarajkumar from Shimoga, M Shreyas Patel from Hassan, S P Muddahanumegowda from Tumkur and Venkataramegowda (Star Chandru) from Mandya in Karnataka.
In Kerala, Rahul Gandhi will contest from Wayanad, K C Venugopal from Alappuzha, Rajmohan Unnithan from Kasaragod, K Sudhakaran from Kannur, Shafi Parambil from Vadakara, M K Raghavan from Kozhikode, V K Sreekandan from Palakkad, Ramya Haridas from Alathur (SC), K Muraleedharan from Thrissur, Benny Behanan from Chalakudy, Hibi Eden from Ernakulam, Dean Kuriakose from Idukki, party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha Kodikunnil Suresh from Mavelikkara (SC), Anto Antony from Pathanamthitta, Adoor Prakash from Attingal and Shashi Tharoor has been renominated from his Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
For the Lakshadweep (ST) seat, the party has fielded Mohd Hamdullah Sayeed, while in Meghalaya, former chief minister Vincent H Pala will contest from Shillong (ST) and Saleng A Sangma from the Tura (ST) seat which the TMC was earlier demanding.
For the lone Nagaland seat, S Supongmeren Jamir has been fielded while in Sikkim the party has fielded Gopal Chettri. In Telangana, the party has fielded Suresh Kumar Shetkar from Zahirabad, Raghuveer Kunduru from Nalgonda, Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy from Mahbubnagar and Balram Naik Porika from Mahabubabad (ST). For the Tripura (West) seat, the Congress has fielded Ashish Kumar Saha in its first list.
The first list of the Congress came less than a week after the ruling BJP announced the names of its 195 candidates in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
