New Delhi, 8 March 2024. Congress released the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections on March 8. Party general secretary KC Venugopal announced 39 candidates at 7.15 pm on Friday evening. According to this list, Rahul Gandhi will contest elections from Wayanad. He is still an MP from there. Apart from Rahul, names of Bhupesh Baghel and Shashi Tharoor are also in the list. In the first list of Congress, 15 candidates are from general category, 24 candidates are from SC-ST, OBC and minority categories. 12 candidates are below 50 years of age.On March 2, BJP had released the list of 195 candidates in 16 states and 2 union territories. The first list of Congress has come 5 days after the list of BJP.
Chhattisgarh: One of the 6 former Chief Ministers, 2 former ministers
Congress has fielded former Chief Minister and two former ministers in the first list. By giving tickets to Shiv Dahriya and Tamradhwaj Sahu, the caste equation has not only been smoothed but it has also given the message that the BJP should be defeated by fielding the big departments which were handled by the Congress ministers.By giving ticket to Rajendra Sahu, Bhupesh Baghel expressed that his choice has been kept in mind while distributing the ticket. Because of Rajendra, Tamradhwaj Sahu had to shift to Mahasamund. Jyotsna Mahant is definitely competing with Saroj Pandey, but this election will actually be between Jyotsna Mahant’s husband Charandas Mahant and Saroj Pandey. Charandas Mahant is the biggest leader of that region in Congress and Saroj Pandey is the national general secretary of BJP. However, last time also in the Modi wave, Jyotsna Mahant surprised everyone by winning the elections. Now 5 Congress tickets can be released in a day or two, only then the mathematics of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh will be known.
Kerala: Candidates changed on two seats, Venugopal will contest from Alappuzha
Congress Party has declared candidates for 16 out of 20 seats in Kerala in the first list. Rahul Gandhi has been given the ticket for the fourth time from Wayanad and three-time MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor. Apart from this, party general secretary KC Venugopal will contest from Alappuzha. The party has repeated 14 out of 16 names this time too. At the same time, candidates have changed from two seats, Alappuzha and Thrissur. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress got 16 seats and three other parties of the alliance got 4 seats. BJP could not win even a single seat, although it secured 15% votes.
Meghalaya: New face in place of former CM Mukul Sangma
The party has changed only one face on two Lok Sabha seats of Meghalaya. The party has once again given a chance to Vincent H Pala from Shillong. Vincent became MP by winning in 2019. From the second seat of the state, Tura, the party has nominated Saleng A Sangma in place of Dr. Mukul Sangma. Dr. Mukul Sangma lost the elections in 2019. He has also been the CM of the state. He joined TMC along with 11 Congress MLAs in 2021.
Sikkim: Last time candidate’s ticket canceled
The party has changed its candidate on a Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim. This time the party has given ticket to Gopal Kshetri. Last time Bharat Basnet was dropped from here. However, he lost the election to SKM’s Indra Hang Subba.
Nagaland: Last time candidate’s ticket canceled
On the sole seat of Nagaland, the party has fielded S Suphongmeren as its candidate. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party had given ticket to KL Chishi from here. However, he lost the election to PDA’s Tokheho Yepthomi.
Karnataka: Tickets of 4 candidates canceled, Suresh from Bengaluru Rural again in the fray
In Karnataka, Congress has declared names for Lok Sabha elections on 7 out of 28 seats. Out of these, tickets of 4 candidates fielded in 2019 have been cancelled. The party has fielded HR Alagur from Bijapur. This seat is reserved for Scheduled Caste. Shreyas Patel has been given ticket from Hassan seat. From Mandya, the party has given ticket to Venkat Ramagowda alias Star Chandru. The party has made DK Suresh its candidate from Bengaluru Rural. He is the younger brother of Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar. He is an MP from Bengaluru Rural seat of Karnataka. He is the only Congress MP from Karnataka. A few days ago, DK Suresh had given a controversial statement. He had said that if the injustice being done to the southern states is not corrected, the southern states will be forced to demand a separate country.
Telangana: Candidates declared for 4 out of 17 seats, all new
Out of 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, Congress has declared candidates for 4 seats namely Zaheerabad, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Mahabubabad. The party has given tickets to new candidates on these four seats. The party has canceled the ticket of sitting MP Uttam Kumar Reddy from Nalgonda seat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha, BRS got 9, Congress 3, BJP 4 and AIMIM got one Owaisi’s Hyderabad seat. BJP has declared candidates from 9 seats in Telangana in the first list. From Zaheerabad, the party has given ticket to Bibi Patil from BRS. Whereas Congress has fielded Suresh Kumar Shetkar from here.
Lakshadweep: Congress again trusts Hamdullah
On the only seat of Lakshadweep, Congress has again expressed confidence in its 2019 candidate Mohammad Hamdullah Sayeed. In the last elections, he lost to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Mohammad Faizal PP by 823 votes. Faizal got 22851 votes and Hamdullah got 22028 votes. Lakshadweep is the least voter village of India.
