Lok Sabha 2019: Congress releases 1st list, Sonia from Rae Bareli & Rahul from Ameti

March 7: Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are among 15 candidates named by the Congress in its first list for the forthcoming 17th Lok Sabha Election, 2019. Their names were part of the first list of candidates Congress released on Thursday night after the  maiden meeting of the party’s central election committee chaired by Rahul Gandhi.

The release of the first list of candidates is being seen as Congress attempt to pressurise the BSP and SP to cede more space to the grand old party of be ready for it to go alone.This will be Sonia Gandhi’s sixth Lok Sabha election starting 1999 when she entered the Lower House from Amethi. In 2004 polls, she vacated the seat for her son Rahul and moved on to Rae Bareli which she won in 2004, 2009 and 2014. In 2006 she resigned over the office or profit controversy and was re-elected again.

The Congress first list does not include Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who joined politics in January and was made the party general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh. There was speculation that Priyanka Gandhi could contest from her mother’s constituency. Priyanka Gandhi has, for years, campaigned for her mother and brother in Raebareli and Amethi.

The other leaders on the list for UP are RPN Singh from Kushi Nagar, Imran Masood from Saharanpur, Jitin Prasad from Dhaurahra, Annu Tandon from Unnao, Rajaram Pal from Akbarpur, Brij Lal Khabri from Jalaun and Nirmal Khatri from Faizabad. In Gujarat, senior Congress leader Bharatsinh Solanki will contest from Anand. Also on the Congress list is senior leader Salman Khurshid, who will contest from Farrukhabad, where he had contested from and lost in 2014.