New Delhi: The Congress on Friday evening announced the first list of 39 candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
None from Odisha figures in the first list of Congress candidates.
It may be recalled that BJP’s first list of 195 candidates, released six days ago, didn’t include anyone from Odisha either.
Among prominent names on the list are Rahul Gandhi, who will again contest from Kerala’s Wayanad. He will be up against CPI’s Annie Raja.
In the 2019 elections, Rahul had contested from two seats – losing to BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi and winning from Wayanad.
It isn’t clear whether Rahul will fight from Amethi this time also.
“Wait for the second list,” was all that senior Congress general secretary KC Venugopal would say.
Venugopal features in the first list, as Congress’ candidate from Alapuzzha in Kerala.
The first list confirmed a high-profile contest in Thiruvananthapuram, where Shashi Tharoor will be up against Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar.
Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel will contest from Rajnandgaon, DK Suresh from Bangalore Rural and K Sudhakaran from Kannur.
Fifteen of the 39 candidates are from general caste and 24 from SC/ST/minorities.
The names were finalised after the first meeting of the party’s central election committee which took place on Thursday under the leadership of president Mallikarjun Kharge, with Rahul attending through a Zoom call.
