Congress’s 1st Lok Sabha candidates list to be out today, suspense on Gandhis’ seats

The Congress’s Central Election Committee (CEC) met on Thursday to finalise its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

However, the list was not released on the same day, continuing the suspense over the seats which would be represented by the Gandhis.

According to sources, the first list will be released on Friday.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and former chief Sonia Gandhi attended the meeting at the party’s headquarters in Delhi. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the party’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Jaipur, was supposed to join the meeting virtually but eventually gave it a miss.

Rahul Gandhi’s name for the Wayanad seat has been suggested by the party’s screening committee in Kerala. In all likelihood, Rahul Gandhi, who is the sitting MP from Wayanad, will contest from the seat again, sources said.

However, it is not clear yet if Rahul Gandhi will return to Amethi, his old turf, besides contesting from Wayanad.

There is also uncertainty on whether Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her political debut. This comes even as there is a strong sentiment among Congress workers who want Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Raebareli after her mother Sonia Gandhi vacated the seat to contest Rajya Sabha polls.

LIKELY NAMES IN FIRST LIST
Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, is likely to contest the seat again.

From Chhattisgarh, the Congress is likely to field former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon, Tamradhwaj Sahu from Durg, Jyotsna Mahant from Korba, and Shiv Dehariya from Janjgir-Champa seat.

In Karnataka, which has a Congress government, candidates on 4-5 seats are yet to be decided by the top brass.

According to sources, the seat of Gulbarga, which is a Congress stronghold, was not discussed at the meeting even as there were reports that Mallikarjun Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani was among the frontrunners for the ticket.

MANY NAMES FOR DELHI SEATS
According to sources, the Delhi Congress unit offered a long list of candidates who are to be considered for the seven Lok Sabha seats.

The high command told the Delhi unit to shortlist some names and come back for the final nod.

According to sources, the names of JP Agrawal, Sandeep Dikshit, and Alka Lamba were discussed for the Chandni Chowk seat.

From Northeast Delhi, the names of Arvinder Singh Lovely and Anil Chowdhary have cropped up.

From Northwest Delhi, the names of Rajkumar Chauhan and Udit Raj are being considered.