Lok Sabha polls: Gaurav Gogoi, Nakul Nath, Vaibhav Gehlot get Congress tickets

Congress leaders Gaurav Gogoi, Nakul Nath and Vaibhav Gehlot figure in the second list of Lok Sabha candidates released by the party on Tuesday, 12 March.

Nakul Nath (Chhindwara), Vaibhav Gelot (Jalore) and Gaurav Gogoi (Jorhat) are sons of former Congress chief ministers Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) and the late Tarun Gogoi (Assam), respectively.

The list contains 43 names in all, from Assam (12), Gujarat (7), Madhya Pradesh (10), Rajasthan (10), Uttarakhand (3) and Daman and Diu (1).

Rahul Kaswan, who switched over from the BJP a couple of days ago, has also been nominated from Rajasthan's Churu.

Announcing the candidates, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said 76.7 per cent of the second list candidates comprise SC/STs, OBCs and Muslims. He said 25 of the candidates were below 50 years of age, 8 were aged between 50 to 60, and 10 were aged 61 to 72.

However, the names of perceived heavyweights of the party were missing from the list.

The second list still does not feature candidates from crucial states like Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

The first list released last week had 39 candidates, including Rahul Gandhi from Kerala's Wayanad, as well as Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram, and Venugopal himself from Alappuzha.