Lok Sabha polls: Sonia Gandhi, Rahul in Congress Lok Sabha List

The Congress on Thursday released its first list of candidates for 15 seats in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, naming UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi as the party’s candidate from Rae Bareli and Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. There was no mention of newest Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi in the list of candidates released for the Lok Sabha elections.The Congress released the first list of 15 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday night. Besides the Gandhis, candidates were announced for nine other seats in Uttar Pradesh and four in Gujarat.

The Congress said its Central Election Committee has chosen former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to be the nominee for the Farukkhabad seat in Uttar Pradesh. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee chief Bharatsinh Solanki will contest from Anand Lok Sabha seat in the state. Former Minister of State for Human Resources JitinPrasada will be the candidate for Dhaurahra seat in Uttar Pradesh, and spokesperson RPN Singh will contest from Kushinagar, the Congress press release said. The Lok Sabha elections are expected to be held in April and May.

Uttar Pradesh sends 80 legislators to Parliament, while Gujarat has 26 seats. The Samajwadi Party, the BahujanSamaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal have announced an alliance in Uttar Pradesh, leaving the Congress out – but the alliance will not contest in Amethi and Rae Bareli. In Gujarat, senior Congress leader Bharatsinh Solanki will contest from Anand. He had won the Lok Sabha elections from Anand in 2004 and 2009. But he lost to Dilipbhai Patel of the BJP in 2014. Raju Parmar will contest the elections from Ahmedabad West seat, Prashant Patel will contest from Vadodara, and RanjitMohansinhRathwa will contest from Chhota Udaipur seat.