LS Polls: Congress releases first list, Rahul & Sonia Gandhi to contest from Amethi, Rae Bareli
In the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, Congress has announced the poll bugle and have released the first list of candidates to contest the upcoming election with Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi on board.
The 15 candidates list includes 11 from the Uttar Pradesh and 4 from the Gujarat, most of which are considered to be the safe seats for the grand old party. With Rahul Gandhi contesting from Amethi and Sonia Gandhi up for the battle from Rae Bareli, the talks and rumors about Priyanka Gandhi contesting the General Election, has been laid to rest.
During the Modi juggernaut of 2014, when almost all the party’s and candidates were decimated by the BJP, it was Amethi and Rae Bareli which kept the count ticking for the Congress and they held on to their bastion. But, during the 2017 Assembly Election, BJP defeated Congress in its backyard and claimed the Amethi seat.
Announcement of first list of candidates selected by Congress Central Election Committee for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. pic.twitter.com/FEzssyx3uV
— Congress (@INCIndia) March 7, 2019
The Congress, which became the first party to announce the name of the candidates in Uttar Pradesh, has not named Priyanka Gandhi who had recently joined the politics when she was coronated with General Secretary in-charge of the UP East. Although, the Gandhi scion has been rallying and campaigning for mother Sonia and brother Rahul Gandhi since 1999.
The list released by Congress includes big names like Salman Khurshid, who would be contesting again from Farrukhabad, where he had lost in 2014.
Other name in UP are RPN Singh from Kushi Nagar, Imran Masood from Saharanpur, Jitin Prasad from Dhaurahra, Annu Tandon from Unnao, Rajaram Pal from Akbarpur, Brij Lal Khabri from Jalaun and Nirmal Khatri from Faizabad.
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First published: 8 March 2019, 9:33 IST