Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will again contest from Kerala’s Wayanad, sources said.
Rahul Gandhi’s name was cleared in the first meeting of Congress party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) held at party headquarters in national capital on Thursday evening, they said.
Rahul Gandhi, also a member of CEC, joined the meeting virtually from Gujarat. Rahul had won Wayanad in 2019 and by a record margin. He had, however, lost Amethi, the erstwhile Congress bastion in Uttar Pradesh, to BJP leader Smriti Irani.
The Communist Party of India (CPI), the second-largest coalition partner in Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front, has fielded senior party leader Annie Raja from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.
Since candidates from Amethi were not discussed, hence it remains unclear whether or not Rahul will contest from Amethi again or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be fielded or not from Rae Bareli- both seats in UP.
The meeting is decide candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha polls 2024. Candidates for seven states of North East, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Delhi were discussed in the meeting.
Sources said member of parliament Shashi Tharoor’s name was also cleared from Thiruvananthapuram. BJP has fielded Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar from the seat in Kerala.
Also Read : Lok Sabha Election 2024: Shashi Tharoor vs Rajeev Chandrasekhar? High-octane poll battle likely in Thiruvananthapuram
Chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, the committee also includes former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi, besides AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, Ambika Soni, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and T S Singhdeo, among others. Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy was also in New Delhi to attend the CEC meeting.
The party is likely to declare its first list of candidates soon after the CEC meeting to enable the candidate to prepare for poll campaign.
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has already released its first list of candidates comprising 195 names including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Congress party is contesting 2024 Lok Sabha polls as part of INDIA bloc of Opposition parties. The BJP has kept 370+ seats target for the party in the upcoming polls and 400+ for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
In 2019, the Lok Sabha polls were held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The result, declared on May 23, saw a landslide victory for the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi with 303 seats in the 543-member House.
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Published: 07 Mar 2024, 10:03 PM IST
