The Congress has released the names of over 50 candidates who will be contesting the upcoming elections. It has retained most of its incumbent MPs from Delhi and shifted former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin to a new seat.
In the list announced following the central election committee meeting, the Congress announced that Ajay Maken, Sandeep Dikshit and Krishna Tirath were to remain its candidates from the constituencies that they presently represent. Union Minister Kapil Sibal will also contest from Chandni Chowk and will face off against Harsh Vardhan of the BJP and AAP's Ashutosh.
A notable inclusion in the list of candidates was Ajit Jogi, who had announced his 'retirement' from politics after the loss to the BJP in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections. Jogi, a one-time Chief Minister of the state, will contest for the Mahasamund seat in Chhattisgarh.
"I have decided to remain away from electoral politics for a year. I wanted to read, write, do contemplation and perform religious discourse and prayers," Jogi had said after the assembly elections. Seen participating in Holi festivities yesterday at the Congress office in Delhi, Jogi seems to have made amends with the party high command.
Jogi had earlier said he wouldn't contest in the Lok Sabha polls. PTI
In the seat of Gurgaon, the Congress has decided to field Rao Dharampal, who takes the place of Rao Inderjit Singh, the incumbent MP who has switched sides to the BJP ahead of the poll. Dharampal has the unenviable challenge of also having to face AAP's Yogendra Yadav.
Former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin, currently representing Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, has been shifted to the seat of Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan. Begum Noor Bano has already been announced as the candidate from the seat he vacated.
CNN-IBN reported that Azharuddin, who had sought to contest from another seat not located in Uttar Pradesh in this election, had met Sonia Gandhi and said he wouldn't contest unless he was given a seat in another state.
Rajasthan Congress party chief and minister Sachin Pilot also made the cut in the list and will be contesting from Ajmer. This comes even as reports initially indicated he may not be keen to contest from Rajasthan given the drubbing the party received in the assembly polls last year.
However, more than the candidates whose names were announced what was more notable were the names that weren't announced in today's list. Commonwealth Games scam accused Suresh Kalmadi has still to receive a ticket from the party and his wife is also to find mention in the Congress list. Adarsh scam accused and former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan is also still to find his name on the candidate list yet.
The party is also still to announce its candidate for the crucial seat of Varanasi, where the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will be contesting. While the Aam Aadmi Party hasn't finalised that Arvind Kejriwal will contest from the seat, the Congress has only said that it will field a 'strong' candidate from the seat.
However, there is speculation that the party may field a relatively weaker candidate to give the AAP a clear shot at upsetting the BJP's star candidate. As this Firstpost piece notes:
With the emergence of Kejriwal, it is learnt that the non-BJP parties may arrive at an unofficial understanding to ensure that only one candidate – be it Kejriwal or any other – takes on Modi.
Ajay Rai, the previous candidate of the party, may be given the cold shoulder given that he is unlikely to yield to Mukhtar Ansari from the Qaumi Ekta Dal, who stood second during the previous election.
All eyes will now be on the next meeting of the Congress central election committee meeting next week to see if the notable exclusions so far are filled, and if so, by whom.
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