Congress body clears Adhir’s candidature from Baharampur

Congress clears 30 names for Lok Sabha elections in 5 states and 2 Union territories. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to contest from Baharampur in West Bengal.

New Delhi The Congress is set to name the party’s Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s as the candidate from his seat of Baharampur in West Bengal as the party’s ’s Central Election Committee (CEC) cleared 30names across fivestates and two Union territories, said leaders aware of developments.

Along with Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a five-term Lok Sabha MP from Baharampur who became the party’s floor leader in the current Lok Sabha, CEC also cleared 11 other candidates from Bengal (Hindustan Times)

The top poll body, however, could not decide on the candidate from Chandigarh and deferred the selection process for the remaining seats in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Along with Chowdhury, a five-term Lok Sabha MP from Baharampur who became the party’s floor leader in the current Lok Sabha, CEC also cleared 11 other candidates from Bengal. This indicates that the Congress is leaving no room for any further negotiations with the Trinamool Congress for a seat pact in Bengal. The party is set to field Isha Khan Chowdhury from Maldaha Dakshin and Mushtaq Alam from Maldaha Uttar, said the leaders cited above.

Last month, the TMC blamed Chowdhury for the collapse in seat sharing talks with the Congress. The Congress is also likely to field former Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya from the north Kolkata seat, said leaders cited above.

In Karnataka, CEC cleared the name of Radhakrishna Doddamani, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s son-in-law from Gulbarga. Kharge had won twice from Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat but lost to the BJP in 2019.

A total of 14 candidate were finalised in Karnataka, said leaders aware of developments. This included former MP Rajiv Gowda from north Bengaluru, Mansoor Ali Khan from Bengaluru central and Sowmya Reddy from Bengaluru South. Khan is All India Congress Committee secretary in charge of Telangana while Reddy, a former MLA and daughter of state minister Ramalinga Reddy, heads the party’s state women’s unit, said the leaders quoted above.

The party’s CEC met to finalise candidates for Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, West Bengal, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar, Chandigarh and Karnataka. It deferred discussions on the remaining seats of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. According to a senior leader, Rajasthan will be taken up on Wednesday.

In the previous two meetings, CEC finalised 82 candidates. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already announced 267 candidates.

The Chandigarh candidate could not be decided as three powerful leaders -- former Union minister and four-time MP Pawan Bansal, Congress unit president Harmohinder Singh Lucky and sitting Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari -- are aspirants.

”After a brief discussion, the decision on Chandigarh has been left to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge,” said a senior leader, requesting anonymity.

In its first list, the Congress announced Rahul Gandhi as the candidate from Wayanad in Kerala, lawmaker Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram and former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandangaon. The party’s second list mentioned sitting MP Nakul Nath as the candidate from Chhindwara and fielded Vaibhav Gehlot, former CM Ashok Gehlot’s son, from Jalore. The Congress’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, was named as the candidate from Jorhat.

Malkajgiri Chevella has been selected for Secunderabad seat of Telangana.