Congress Candidates List 2024: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is set to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Kerala's Wayanad constituency, as announced by the party on Friday. This decision was made public with the release of the first list of 39 candidates by the Congress. The list includes Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, who will contest from Alappuzha (Kerala), and Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar's brother DK Suresh has been fielded from his existing Lok Sabha constituency Bangalore Rural. He was the only Congress candidate to win in the 2019 general elections in the state.
The other five candidates in Karnataka include H R Algur (Bijapur), Anandswamy Gaddadevarmath (Haveri), S P Muddahanumegowda (Tumkur), Venkataramane Gowda (Mandya) and Shreyas M Patel (Hassan).
With Geetha Shivarajkumar fielded for the Shivamogga seat, the stage is for an interesting battle in the home district of BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa. Geetha is the daughter of former Chief Minister late S Bangarappa and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Shivamogga (Shimoga) on a Janata Dal (Secular) ticket and lost to Yediyurappa. She is the sister of Karnataka Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa and daughter-in- law of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar. The seat is currently held by Yediyurappa's son, B Y Raghavedra.
In Telangana, the party candidates include former Union Minister Balram Naik (Mahabubabad), Suresh Kumar Shetkar (Zaheerabad), C Vamshi Chand Reddy (Mahabubnagar) and Raghuveer Kunduru (Nalgonda).
Balram Naik was Union Minister of State between 2009 and 2013 under the UPA-II government, Shetkar was a Lok Sabha member from Zaheerabad from 2009 to 2014, while Reddy is a former MLA.
Venugopal highlighted the diversity within the candidate selection, stating, "The list has 15 general category candidates while 24 are from the SC, ST, OBC, and minority communities." Congress treasurer Ajay Maken commended the blend of youthful vigour and seasoned experience evident in the list.
After the first list was announced, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor stressed on "constructive and positive" campaign, " I am honoured and humbled that the Congress party has give me an opportunity to defend my seat...I look forward to a fair and effective contest. in 15 years of politics, I never needed to spend one day of negative campaigning..."
Speaking to news agency ANI, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on his Lok Sabha candidature said, "...Our priority is to win the maximum Lok Sabha seats to defeat PM Modi in this next elections. Our target is to win the maximum number of parliament seats for the Congress party..."
Congress Election Preparations Amid Rumours Of Rahul Gandhi's Return To Amethi, Priyanka Gandhi's Poll Debut
The decision on candidates came following discussions on over 60 Lok Sabha seats from 11 states and union territories during the Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting. The meeting, chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, focused on seats in Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Sikkim, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Lakshwadeep.
"We are in election mode and on an aggressive path of campaigning," remarked Venugopal, referring to Rahul Gandhi's ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Gujarat. The yatra is set to conclude on March 17 in Mumbai with a massive rally, for which invitations are being extended to all INDIA bloc partners by Kharge.
There is speculation that Rahul Gandhi may also contest from Amethi, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may contest from Rae Bareli, both considered strongholds of the Gandhi family. The local units of the Congress have expressed their desire for the scions of the Congress first family to contest from these constituencies.