Congress on Saturday released its fourth list of 45 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, fielding party's Uttar Pradesh chief Ajay Rai against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi and former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijaya Singh from Rajgarh.
In the fourth list, Danish Ali has been named as the party's candidate from Amroha, while Imran Masood and Alok Mishra would contest the polls from Saharanpur and Kanpur, respectively.
Who is Ajay Rai?
1. Ajay Rai started his career with RSS student wing ABVP and won the UP legislative assembly elections from the Kolasla constituency three times in a row between 1996 and 2007 on a BJP ticket.
2. He left the saffron camp and joined Samajwadi Party after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket.
3. A a five-time MLA, Rai later joined the Congress in 2012 and won the UP assembly elections from the Pindra constituency. In 2017, Rai lost state election from Pindra as a Congress candidate
4. Rai had challenged PM Modi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency but lost both times.
{{/usCountry}}4. Rai had challenged PM Modi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency but lost both times.
{{/usCountry}}5. In August 2023, he was named as the new president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC), replacing Dalit leader Brijlal Khabri.
Lok Sabha elections:
The elections for the 543 parliamentary constituencies will be held in seven phases, starting on April 19 and culminating on June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. The phase 1 polling will be held on April 19, the second phase on April 26, third phase on May 7, fourth phase on May 13, 5th phase on May 20, 6th phase on May 25 and the last and the 7th phase on June 1.