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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Congress announces Allahabad pick, SP names candidate from Varanasi
Yogesh Shukla, a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, will contest from Allahabad. He will face the BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi. In all, the party announced three candidates from Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress announced its candidate from Allahabad on Monday after speculations that party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra might contest the Lok Sabha elections from the seat.
Yogesh Shukla, a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, will contest from Allahabad. He will face the BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi. In all, the party announced three candidates from Uttar Pradesh.
Chandresh Upadhyay will be fielded from Domariyaganj and Bihar Chand Yadav will fight from Sant Kabir Nagar.
Separately, the Samajwadi Party (SP) fielded Shalini Yadav, the daughter-in-law of former Union minister Shyamlal Yadav, from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She has crossed over to the SP from the Congress.
The SP also replaced its Mirzapur candidate Rajendra S Bind with sitting BJP MP from Machlishehr, Ram Charit Nishad. Now, Nishad will take on Union minister and BJP ally Apna Dal candidate Anupriya Patel and Laliteshpati Tripathi of the Congress in the Mirzapur seat.
Last week, Nishad had joined the SP after he was denied ticket by the BJP for the Machlishehr seat.
The SP also fielded Sanjay Chauhan from Chandauli. Varanasi, Chandauli and Mirzapur constituencies will go to the polls in the last phase on May 19.
The Congress is yet to announce its candidate from Varanasi. There are speculations that Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress’s incharge of eastern UP, could fight from Varanasi.
