Lok Sabha Election 2019: Congress releases first list; Sonia to contest from Rae Bareli, Rahul from Amethi

The list states that Sonia Gandhi to contest from Rae Bareli and Rahul Gandhi to contest from Amethi.

(Image: PTI)

NEW DELHI: The Congress party on Thursday released the first list of candidates for Lok Sabha Election 2019.  The list includes the name of Sonia Gandhi who will contest elections from Rae Bareli while INC president Rahul Gandhi will fight from Amethi. Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats out of which the Congress had won just two (Amethi and Raebareli) in 2014, while Gujarat has 26 seats and the Congress had drawn a blank in 2014. In the list, finalised at a meeting of the party's central election committee chaired by Rahul Gandhi, includes 5 names, 11 are from Uttar Pradesh and 4 from Gujarat. On Twitter, Congress wrote "Announcement of first list of candidates selected by Congress Central Election Committee for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections."

Announcement of first list of candidates selected by Congress Central Election Committee for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. pic.twitter.com/FEzssyx3uV

— Congress (@INCIndia) March 7, 2019

Former Union ministers Salman Khurshid, Jitin Prasad and R P N Singh have been fielded from their traditional seats of Farrukhabad, Dhaurahra and Kushi Nagar respectively. Former UP Congress chief Nirmal Khatri will contest from  Faizabad, while Bharatsinh Solanki, the party's ex-chief of the Gujarat unit, has been fielded from the state's Anand constituency. This is the sixth time Sonia Gandhi is contesting Lok Sabha polls while for Rahul it is fourth. The announcement put an end to speculation that Sonia Gandhi may not contest in the upcoming polls due to health reasons and the party's newly appointed general secretary in-charge (East UP) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may be fielded from her constituency. Interestingly, the Congress has announced 11 candidates for the electorally crucial state of UP where there is still no clarity on whether the party will go it alone or be a part of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal grand alliance.