New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday released its second list of 16 candidates from Uttar Pradesh and first list of five candidates from Maharashtra for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Notable among the candidates are former home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, former coal Minister Sriprakash Jaisawal, ex-MP Priya Dutt, and Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar.
Mr Shinde will contest from Solapur (SC) Lok Sabha seat, from where he has been a lawmaker on several occasions, while Mr Jaisawal will enter the electoral battle from his home turf of Kanpur. Mr Babbar will contest from Moradabad.
Priya Dutt
Ms Priya Dutt will contest from Mumbai North-Central seat, which she had won in a by-election in 2005. Her father, veteran actor and senior Congress leader late Sunil Dutt had won from this seat on five occasions.
This newspaper had on March 9 reported exclusively that Mr Shinde and Ms Dutt have been shortlisted as candidates for Lok Sabha polls from Maharashtra.
Having declared 16 candidates from Uttar Pradesh in its second list, the Congress has now named 27 candidates from the politically crucial state till now. There are 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Raj Babbar
While this indicates that the party does not seem to be interested in any alliance in Uttar Pradesh as it has now declared its candidates in more than one-fourth seats, Congress general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi had told party workers that the focus should be on the 21 seats which the party had won in 2009 in the state, and also on those where it had finished a close second 10 years back.
While in the first list declared last week, out of the 11 seats named by the Congress, it had won eight seats in 2009 Lok Sabha polls. In the list of 16 candidates declared on Wednesday, the Congress had won six seats in 2009. These seats are Moradabad, Bahraich, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Kanpur and Kheri. In Maharashtra, former minister Milind Deora will be contesting from Mumbai-South, while Kisan Congress (the farmers wing of the party) chief Nana Patole will contest from Nagpur, the seat which was in 2014 wrested from the Congress by BJP.
. Notable among the candidates are former home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, former coal Minister Sriprakash Jaisawal, ex-MP Priya Dutt, and Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar.
Mr Shinde will contest from Solapur (SC) Lok Sabha seat, from where he has been a lawmaker on several occasions, while Mr Jaisawal will enter the electoral battle from his home turf of Kanpur. Mr Babbar will contest from Moradabad.
Ms Priya Dutt will contest from Mumbai North-Central seat, which she had won in a by-election in 2005. Her father, veteran actor and senior Congress leader late Sunil Dutt had won from this seat on five occasions.
This newspaper had on March 9 reported exclusively that Mr Shinde and Ms Dutt have been shortlisted as candidates for Lok Sabha polls from Maharashtra.
Having declared 16 candidates from Uttar Pradesh in its second list, the Congress has now named 27 candidates from the politically crucial state till now. There are 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh.
While this indicates that the party does not seem to be interested in any alliance in Uttar Pradesh as it has now declared its candidates in more than one-fourth seats, Congress general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi had told party workers that the focus should be on the 21 seats which the party had won in 2009 in the state, and also on those where it had finished a close second 10 years back.
While in the first list declared last week, out of the 11 seats named by the Congress, it had won eight seats in 2009 Lok Sabha polls. In the list of 16 candidates declared on Wednesday, the Congress had won six seats in 2009. These seats are Moradabad, Bahraich, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Kanpur and Kheri. In Maharashtra, former minister Milind Deora will be contesting from Mumbai-South, while Kisan Congress (the farmers wing of the party) chief Nana Patole will contest from Nagpur, the seat which was in 2014 wrested from the Congress by BJP.
