Congress Releases Another Poll List for 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, No Decision On Amethi, Raebareli

The party has announced its candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, pitting its Mumbai unit’s vice president against Union Minister Piyush Goyal. The fresh list includes four candidates, such as actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar from the Gurgaon constituency and former Union Minister Anand Sharma from the Kangra constituency in Himachal Pradesh. Mr. Babbar will be contesting against BJP veteran and Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh. The Congress has also revealed the names of all nine candidates it is fielding from Haryana, with the tenth Lok Sabha seat being contested by its ally, the Aam Aadmi Party.

Additionally, Mr. Sharma, making his Lok Sabha election debut, is up against the BJP’s Rajeev Bhardwaj in Kangra. Former MLA Satpal Raizada has been fielded from the Hamirpur constituency in Himachal Pradesh, facing off against Union Minister Anurag Thakur. Meanwhile, Maharashtra will witness a battle between the Congress-NCP (Sharad Pawar faction)-Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) and the BJP-NCP (Ajit Pawar faction)-Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), with the party pitting Bhushan Patil, the vice president of its Mumbai unit, against Union Minister Piyush Goyal. The decision regarding Raebareli and Amethi has been a topic of speculation, with the Congress deliberating on the candidate selection.

There was a demand from the Amethi unit for a candidate from the “Gandhi parivar (family)” but the decision seems to have been put off for now. There has been speculation that former president Rahul Gandhi might contest from Amethi again, as well as from Kerala’s Wayanad. For Raebareli, the name doing the rounds has been that of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, whose electoral debut is expected to energize party workers. The move is considered strategic as Raebareli was the only seat the Congress won in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 elections.

The last date for filing nominations for both seats is Friday, May 3, and the polls are scheduled for May 20.