After securing a thumping majority in 2019 from Wayanad constituency in Kerala, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has once decided to enter the poll battle from the same place in the upcoming Loksabha elections. His name was declared in the first list of 39 candidates announced by the party on Friday, leaving no room for any further speculations. However, the suspense on whether he will choose his second constituency as Amethi, where he was defeated by a margin of more than 50 thousand votes by Smriti Irani, or any other place continues because the high command has not yet taken any call on it.
Besides Rahul Gandhi, some of the prominent leaders whose candidatures were confirmed include Shashi Tharoor who will contest from Thiruvananthapuram segment for the fourth time in a trot after completing a hat-trick of victories from the same place. Former Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Bagal will vie from Rajnandgaon in his state and DK Suresh Kumar, brother of DK Shiva Kumar, deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, is going to be fielded from Bengaluru rural.
The list included seven candidates from Karnataka, four from Telangana and six from Chattisgarh. The remaining seats are from Northeast states like Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland and Tripura. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal will contest from Alapuzzha in Kerala.
Out of the 39 candidates, 15 are from the general category and 24 are from SC/ST/minorities. As the first list was announced, the Congress said senior leadership put much thought behind the judicious mix. The names were finalized after the first meeting of the central election committee that took place on Thursday under the leadership of president Mallikarjun Kharge. Rahul Gandhi attended the meeting through a Zoom call.
Surprisingly, the list didn’t feature any candidates from several big States like UP, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi etc.
K.C. Venugopal said the party is only looking for the best of the candidates and there is no conflict. The tickets are being given only based on winnability, Venugopal added. The next meeting of the CEC is expected to be held on Monday.