Lok Sabha polls: Raj Babbar from Gurugram, Anand Sharma from Kangra

The Congress on Tuesday, 30 April, announced it was fielding former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar from Gurugram in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress is also fielding former union minister Anand Sharma from the Kangra Lok Sabha consitutency and Satpal Raizada from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh. Veteran leader Bhushan Patil is to stand from Mumbai North.

It is important to mention here that Sharma will be fighting his first Lok Sabha poll from the Kangra constituency of Himachal Pradesh after four terms in the Rajya Sabha.

He retired from the Rajya Sabha in 2022, but the party did not renominate him. He was also one of the key faces of the rebel 'G23' faction that sought changes in the party in 2020.

Raj Babbar, who started his political journey with the Janata Dal before affiliating with the Samajwadi Party (SP), eventually joined the Congress in 2008. The actor turned politician boasts a notable track record.

With three terms as a Lok Sabha MP and two terms as a Rajya Sabha lawmaker, he has left an indelible mark on electoral politics. Babbar has won both Agra and Firozabad Lok Sabha constituencies in the past.

In 2014, under the Congress banner, he challenged V.K. Singh for the Ghaziabad seat in Uttar Pradesh but lost. Undeterred, in 2019, Babbar sought election once more on a Congress ticket, this time from Fatehpur Sikri. However, victory eluded him once again.

Sources say that Babbar's candidacy for Gurugram was supported by former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is influential in the region.

This move also reflects the strategic imperative of aligning with Hooda's clout to enhance the party's prospects in the state, say Haryana watchers. Babbar thanked the party high command for fielding him from Gurugram.

In addition to Babbar, the Congress has also nominated Satpal Raizada for Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh and Bhushan Patil, a vice president of the party's Mumbai unit, for Mumbai North, completing its line-up for these constituencies.