NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday announced the fourth list of 46 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The prominent names among the candidates include former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, Karti Chidambaram, Danish Ali, and Manickam Tagore among others. The Congress has announced 185 candidates in four lists for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning April 19.
The states in the list include Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
The party has named nine candidates for the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh. However, Amethi and Raebareli does not figure in the list. There is speculation that Rahul Gandhi may also contest from Amethi apart from Wayanad seat, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Raebareli, a seat which was previously held by Sonia Gandhi.
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As speculated, the sitting MP Danish Ali has been fielded from Amroha. Ali, who was expelled from BSP, joined Congress early this week.
The party has also fielded UP Congress chief Ajay Rai from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While Imran Masood has been fielded from Saharanpur, Tanuj Punia will be fighting from Barabanki,
The key candidates announced in the seven seats of Tamil Nadu include sitting MP Manickam Tagore from Virudhunagar, former union minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram from Sivaganga, S Jothimani from Karur, Vijay Vasanth from Kanya Kumari and Sasikanth Senthil from Tiruvallur.
Former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh’s name figures among the 12 seats announced in Madhya Pradesh. He will be contesting from Rajgarh.
The first list featured top guns including Rahul Gandhi, Bhupesh Baghel, K C Venugopal, and Shashi Tharoor among others. Gandhi is contesting from Wayanad against CPI's Annie Raja.
The party’s second list included sitting MP Nakul Nath as the candidate from Chhindwara and 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.