Lok Sabha Polls 2024: Congress to release first list of candidates soon, Rahul Gandhi may contest from Wayanad

The Congress party will soon release its first list of candidates from about ten states and union territories for the Lok Sabha 2024 polls.

The list will likely clear names for candidacy, including that of Rahul Gandhi, from Wayanad in Kerala, by the party's Central Election Committee (CEC), which had its first meeting in the national capital on Thursday, March 7.

"I believe the announcement of candidates from the states that were discussed during yesterday's meeting will be done today or tomorrow," Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications, told news agency ANI.

The CEC meeting was chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by senior leaders, including Sonia Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi attended the meeting virtually from Gujarat. The CEC, which is meeting again on Monday, has also cleared names of 11 candidates from Karnataka. 

The meeting approved the candidacies of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon seat, former minister Tamardwaj Sahu from Mahasamund and Jyotsna Mahant from Korba seat in Chhattisgarh.

Also Read: Lok Sabha Polls 2024 : Rahul Gandhi to contest from Wayanad again, name cleared by Congress CEC, say sources

Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi's name was suggested for re-election by the party's screening committee in Kerala. His candidature from Amethi is unclear yet because candidates from Uttar Pradesh were not discussed in the CEC's Thursday meeting. The Communist Party of India (CPI) has fielded senior party leader Annie Raja from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.

Rahul won Wayanad by a record margin in 2019. However, he lost Amethi, the erstwhile Congress bastion in Uttar Pradesh, to BJP leader Smriti Irani.

Among other names, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor's name has also been cleared for re-election by the CEC. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar from this seat in Kerala.

The Congress party is contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as part of the INDIA bloc of Opposition parties.

Also Read:  Lok Sabha Election 2024: Shashi Tharoor vs Rajeev Chandrasekhar? High-octane poll battle likely in Thiruvananthapuram

The BJP has kept a 370 seats target for the party in the upcoming polls and 400 for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The BJP has already released its first list of candidates, comprising 195 names, including those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

In 2019, the Lok Sabha polls were held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The result, declared on May 23, saw a landslide victory for the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi with 303 seats in the 543-member House.