Raj Babbar, Priya Dutt, Sushil Kumar Shinde in Congress' 2nd list of Lok Sabha candidates

The Congress has announced its candidates for 16 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and five in Maharashtra. With this, the Congress has declared 27 candidates from the electorally-crucial Uttar Pradesh.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi and party UP chief Raj Babbar.

NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday released its second list of candidates for Lok Sabha elections, fielding its Uttar Pradesh unit chief Raj Babbar from Moradabad and former union ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde from Solapur and Sriprakash Jaiswal from Kanpur. The second list of 21 candidates includes five from Maharashtra and 16 from Uttar Pradesh. Other significant names include Kisan Congress chief Nana Patole from Nagpur, former Union minister Milind Deora from Mumbai South and former MP Priya Dutt from Mumbai North-Central. The Congress fielded sitting MP Savitri Phule, who defected to the grand old party from the BJP, from Bahraich, and Sanjay Singh from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Congress announces candidates for 16 seats in UP, 5 in Maharashtra for Lok Sabha elections. pic.twitter.com/8TVk6zl85Z

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With this, the Congress has declared  27 candidates from the electorally-crucial Uttar Pradesh. The party had released its first list of 15 candidates on March 7 in which it had announced that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will contest from Raebareli and party president Rahul Gandhi will fight the polls from Amethi. Former Union ministers Salman Khurshid, Jitin Prasad and R P N Singh were also named in the first list from their traditional seats of Farrukhabad, Dhaurahra and Kushi Nagar respectively. Elections for Uttar Pradesh's 80 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases, beginning with the first phase on April 11. Elections for the high-profile Amethi and Rae Bareli constituencies, represented by Congress President Rahul Gandhi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, respectively, will be held in the fifth phase of polling on May 6. Varanasi, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in The Lok Sabha, will vote last on May 19. Along with Amethi and Rae Bareli, voting in Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich, Kaiserganj and Gonda will take place on May 6. In the 16th Lok Sabha, Lucknow was represented by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. In the first phase on April 11, voting will be held in Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar - all located in western Uttar Pradesh. In the second phase on April 18, polling will take place in Nageena, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. In the third phase on April 23, voting will take place in Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Budaun, Aonla, Bareilly and Pilibhit. In this belt the Samajwadi Party (SP) has been traditionally strong, but was routed in the last general elections in 2014. Mulayam Singh Yadav is set to contest from Mainpuri this time. Union minister Maneka Gandhi won from Pilibhit in 2014. In the fourth phase on April 29, polling will be held at Shahjahanpur, Kheri, Hardoi, Mishrikh, Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah, Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Jalaun, Jhansi and Hamirpur. Union minister Uma Bharati, who has announced that she will not contest this time, represented Jhansi in the 16th Lok Sabha. Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phoolpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Dumariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabeernagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Bhadohi and Machlishahr will go to the polls in the sixth phase on May 12. The seventh and final phase of polling on May 19 will see voting in Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Baangaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Mirzapur, Robertsganj and Varanasi. (With inputs from agencies)