Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to contest from Kerala’s Wayanad seat again in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the party’s central election committee (CEC) decided on Thursday evening, said people aware of developments.
There is speculation that Gandhi may also fight from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi, a seat he won in 2004, 2009 and 2014 before losing in 2019, said the people cited above, though seats from the state were not discussed in Thursday’s meeting. Apart from Gandhi, about 50 candidates were cleared by the Congress CEC in its first meeting to finalise names for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s name was cleared from Thiruvananthapuram. Former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, and former deputy CM of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot, were asked to contest the polls, said the people quoted above. Both were present in the CEC meeting. Jyotsna Mahant’s name was cleared from Chhattisgarh, the people said.
But the party couldn’t fix the candidates for the three seats in Delhi where it is fighting in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party. Women wing head Alka Lamba, former MPs Sandip Dikshit and JP Agarwal’s names were proposed for the Chandni Chowk seat. For the North West Delhi constituency, former MP Udit Raj and Raj Kumar Chauhan were among the candidates shortlisted. For North East Delhi, state unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, Anil Choudhury and one more name were placed before CEC, said the people quoted above.
The body, led by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, returned the proposals and sought from the screening committee a single name for each of the three seats in Delhi. The remaining four seats of the national capital will be fought by the AAP. Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, general secretary KC Venugopal, party veteran Ambika Soni and others attended the meeting.
{{/usCountry}}The body, led by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, returned the proposals and sought from the screening committee a single name for each of the three seats in Delhi. The remaining four seats of the national capital will be fought by the AAP. Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, general secretary KC Venugopal, party veteran Ambika Soni and others attended the meeting.
{{/usCountry}}Three members present in the meeting said Gandhi was the only candidate from Wayanad, a seat he first won in 2019. “Obviously there were no major discussion about that seat,” said a senior leader, requesting anonymity.
On Thursday, CEC discussed all seats in the northeastern states, except Assam, which holds 14 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the region. A leader said all the NE seats were cleared. The top poll body of the Congress also discussed Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Delhi seats.
While some of the seats in Kerala were cleared quickly, a few seats would be taken up later. “Roughly, 60 seats were discussed in the meeting. Nearly 50 candidates have been finalised,” said a senior member of the panel, requesting anonymity.
Candidates’ names for at least 3-4 seats each in Karnataka and Telangana have been put on hold for further discussion. The next meeting of CEC is expected soon. Meanwhile, the screening committee will meet on Friday to scrutinise candidates from other states. BJP has already named candidates for 195 seats.