Lok Sabha polls: Congress releases 14 names, fields Rao Yadvendra Singh against Scindia

The Congress on Wednesday, 27 March released its eighth list of 14 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, fielding Rao Yadvendra Singh against Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh's Guna.

It also fielded Pratap Bhanu Sharma against former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Vidisha. Tarvar Singh Lodhi has been nominated from Damoh.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress nominated Dolly Sharma from Ghaziabad, Nakul Dubey from Sitapur, Shivram Valmiki from Bulandshahr (SC) seat and Virendra Chaudhary from Maharajganj.

The Congress announced candidates for four seats each in Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, and three each in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. With this, the total number of candidates declared by the party so far has reached 208.

In Jharkhand, the Congress named Kalicharan Munda from the Khunti (ST) seat, Sukhdeo Bhagat from Lohardaga (ST) and Jai Prakashbhai Patel from the Hazaribagh constituency.

In Telangana, the party has fielded Athram Suguna from Adilabad, Tatiparthi Jeevan Reddy from Nizamabad, Neelam Madhu from Medak and Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy from Bhongir.

The announcement of the 14 candidates came hours after top Congress leaders met to discuss the party's Lok Sabha poll candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Goa and Jharkhand.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary K C Venugopal and the members of its Central Election Committee (CEC), including senior leaders Ambika Soni, Madhusudan Mistry, Uttam Kumar Reddy and Salman Khurshid, were present at the meeting.

Suspense over the high-profile seats of Amethi and Raebareli continued.

Asked about these two seats of Uttar Pradesh, state Congress chief Ajai Rai said there was no discussion on these parliamentary constituencies. "We had conveyed our views on these seats (Amethi and Raebareli) the last time. It is up to the leadership now to take a decision," he said.

After the CEC meeting last week, Rai said, "We have given our proposal that members of the Gandhi family should contest from Amethi and Raebareli as it is the demand of the people there. Now, it is up to the party leadership to decide on it."

There is speculation that besides his declared seat of Wayanad in Kerala, Rahul Gandhi may also contest the Lok Sabha polls from Amethi, a seat he represented earlier, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Raebareli, a seat that was previously held by her mother Sonia Gandhi.

Both seats are considered bastions of the Gandhi family and the local units of the Congress have demanded that the two scions of the family should contest from there.

The Congress is in an alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and is contesting 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be held in seven phases starting 19 April. Wednesday, 27 March was the last day for filing nominations for the first phase of the elections. The counting of votes will be taken up on 4 June.