Congress releases first list for 2019 LS polls, Sonia Gandhi to contest from Rae Bareli

Sonia Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi figured in the first list of 15 Lok Sabha candidates from UP and Gujarat that the AICC announced on Thursday evening. With Sonia Gandhi entering the fray from Raebareli once again, the wide-spread speculation about she retiring from electoral politics and her daughter Priyanka Gandhi contesting from this traditional family seat proved to be wrong.

Similarly, Rahul Gandhi choosing Amethi again also showed he is padding up from his sitting and that he is more than ready to face Smriti Irani for another round of electoral battle.

The Congress first list, as ET reported on Wednesday, , also figured many party’s 2009 LS poll winners from UP . They include Jitian Prasada, (Dhaurahra), Annu Tandon (Unnao), RPN Singh (Kushi Nagar), Nirmal Kathri (Faizabad), Salman Khursheed (Farrukhabad), Salim Sherrwani (Badaun). Other from the UP List included Imaran Masood (Sahanpur), Rajaram Pal (Akbarpur), Brij Lal Khabri (Jalaun-SC).




In the Gujarat list of four Congress chose young party leader Prashant Patel for Vadodara seat which Narendra Modi had won in 2014 along with Varanasi. Patel is the Vadodara city Congress chief. Former PCC chief Bharatsinh Solanki has been chosen to contest from Anand while senior leader Raju Parmar will fight from the Ahmedabad (SC) seat. Congress has chosen tribal Ranjit Mahansinh Rathwa from Chotta Udaipur (ST seat.

The list, announced after a meeting of the Central Election Committee, also advertised the party departing from tradition of announcing the nominees only after the elections dates are announced. More candidates are expected to be named in the coming days.