Lok Sabha Polls: Congress Finalises About 40 Candidates, Nakul Nath, Vaibhav Gehlot To Contest

The Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC), chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, met at the party headquarters to finalize candidates.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with party leader Sonia Gandhi during the Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, at AICC Headquarters in New Delhi.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Congress leadership convened on Monday to discuss over 60 seats across five states: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Assam, and finalized around 40 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

 

Sources told PTI that the party intends to nominate former chief minister Kamal Nath's son, Nakul Nath, once again from Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara constituency and Ashok Gehlot's son, Vaibhav, from Jalore in Rajasthan. There were speculations about both Kamal Nath and his son Nakul possibly switching to the BJP before the polls.

Both Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot are unlikely to contest, as Gehlot's son is entering the electoral arena, and Pilot has responsibilities in Chhattisgarh as the AICC general secretary, sources told PTI.

The Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC), chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, met at the party headquarters to finalize candidates, days after the party released its initial list of 39 candidates for the polls, reported PTI. Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Ambika Soni, T S Singhdeo, P L Punia, and Mohammad Jawaid, among others, attended the CEC. 

The meeting discussed seats from Rajasthan, Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and the Union Territory of Daman and Diu. Notable decisions included finalizing around 10 candidates for Rajasthan, including Rahul Kaswan from Churu, who joined the Congress after leaving the BJP on Monday, Vaibhav Gehlot from Jalore, and Harish Meena from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, reported PTI.

The discussions extended to Uttarakhand, where Congress leaders, including Kumari Selja, participated in discussions for the state's five seats. Meanwhile, Rajasthan's discussions saw the presence of Govind Singh Dotasra, Sukhjinder Randhawa, and Pilot.

In Madhya Pradesh, discussions included AICC's Jitendra Singh and state unit chief Jitu Patwari, among others.

During the previous CEC meeting on Thursday, discussions revolved around Lok Sabha seats in various states including Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Sikkim, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Lakshwadeep, as per the PTI report.