Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Congress holds first meeting to finalise candidates — What's expected

The Congress held the first meeting of its Central Election Committee (CEC) on Thursday to select candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The grand old party is yet to announce its candidates for the Lok Sabha polls 2024.

The key meeting of the Congress was attended by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi at the party headquarters in Delhi. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi joined the meeting via video conferencing.

Sources said it was finalised that Rahul Gandhi will contest the Wayanad seat and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will fight from Thiruvananthapuram. “Candidates for seven seats of Telangana was finalised, while that for the remaining 10 seats will be taken up later,” they added. 

Sources had earlier said that Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may contest from the Raebareli constituency, while Rahul Gandhi may fight from Wayanad and Amethi.

Congress' General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh earlier said, "The CEC will discuss all seats. Final decisions will be taken wherever possible. CEC is the highest body that deliberates on and finalises candidates."

As per the seat-sharing arrangement of the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress will field a total of 17 candidates out of 80 Lok Sabha seats, while its ally Samajwadi Party (SP) will contest 63 seats.

Meanwhile, the Congress panel tasked with preparing the party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls has prepared the draft, which will now be discussed by the Congress Working Committee.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who heads the manifesto committee said on Tuesday that the draft report will be presented to the Congress president. "We have prepared the draft manifesto. Now it will go to the Congress Working Committee. They will finalize the manifesto, and then it will become the Congress party document. Tomorrow we will hand over this draft to the Congress President," he said.

The Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May this year.