Rahul Gandhi confirmed to be contesting from Wayanad, no discussion on UP seats

Rahul Gandhi's was the only name Congress shortlisted for Wayanad and the central election committee cleared his name.

Updated on: Mar 7, 2024, 23:04:47 IST

By HT News Desk

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Rahul Gandhi will be contesting from Kerala's Wayanad, the seat that he represented in the last Lok Sabha including a brief period of his suspension, the central election committee of the party vetted on Thursday -- in the first meeting of the election body meeting. There was no confirmation whether Rahul Gandhi will also contest from Amethi, the seat he lost to BJP's Smriti Irani as Uttar Pradesh was not discussed during Thursday's meeting. Shashi Tharoor will contest from his Thiruvananthapuram seat that he made a Congress turf since 2009.

Rahul Gandhi will be contesting from Wayanad in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. No discussion on a second seat took place on Thursday. (PTI)

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, general secretary KC Venugopal attended the meeting while Rahul Gandhi joined the meeting via Zoom. The panel on Thursday had Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim, and Manipur candidates to discuss and clear. The Congress has not yet declared any candidate list.

Congress CEC meeting to finalise the 1st list of candidates: Here are the main takeaways

1. Rahul Gandhi will contest from Wayanad and Shashi Tharoor will contest from Thiruvananthapuram.

2. The first list of candidates is likely to have Lok Sabha election 2024 contestants from Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim and Manipur since these are the states that were taken up for discussion first.

3. The Amethi and Rai Bareli suspense will take time to be dispelled as Uttar Pradesh was not on the table for the election committee. Amethi is likely to be Rahul Gandhi's second seat and Rai Bareli, the former seat of Sonia Gandhi, is rumoured to have the debut of Priyanka Gandhi.

4. Congress first list will not have any UP candidates where it has entered a seat-sharing agreement with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.

5. After the CEC meeting, Sachin Pilot said a detailed discussion was held over each seat and the decision will be announced soon. "Whichever person is in the position to win will be asked to contest," Sachin Pilot said.

6. Telangana minister Uttam Reddy said the official announcement will be made in a couple of days.

The CEC meeting on Thursday could not finalise the names from Delhi Lok sabha seats and the next meeting of the CEC will be held on March 11, after which the 1st list of candidates will be announced.

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HT News Desk
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