LS polls 2024 I Congress releases first list; Rahul to contest from Wayanad

After much anticipation, the Congress on Friday (March 8) announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Among the prominent names featuring in the list of 39 candidates include those of Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and Bhupesh Baghel.

Rahul Gandhi will contest from Wayanad in Kerala but it is not clear whether he will also be fielded from Amethi, like in 2019. Shashi Tharoor will fight from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, a seat he has held for three terms. Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Baghel will make his Lok Sabha poll debut from Rajnandgaon. Former Chhattisgarh minister Tamradhwaj Sahu has been fielded from Mahasamund.

Some of the other big names on the list are Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, who will contest from Alapuzzha in Kerala - a seat he had won in 2009 - and DK Suresh, brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who has been fielded from Bengaluru Rural.

The party has nominated K Muraleedharan, the son of former Kerala CM K Karunakaran, from Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala where he will be pitted against BJP’s Suresh Gopi. He has been shifted from Vadakara segment apparently after his sister Padmaja Venugopal joined the BJP.

The names have been announced primarily for some southern and northeastern states and the only outliers are Chhattisgarh and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep.

Earlier in the day, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge presided over the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting where the names of the shortlisted candidates for 60 Lok Sabha seats across 11 states and Union territories were discussed.

Seven named from Karnataka

DK Suresh (Bangalore Rural) and Kannada actor Shivarajkumar's wife Geetha Shivarajkumar (Shimoga) figure in the first list of seven candidates in Karnataka announced on Friday.

A three-time MP, Suresh is the brother of Deputy CM and Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar and is the sitting member from Bangalore Rural. He was the only Congress candidate to have emerged victorious in the 2019 general elections in the state.

The other five Congress candidates from Karnataka are HR Algur (Bijapur), Anandswamy Gaddadevarmath (Haveri), SP Muddahanumegowda (Tumkur), Venkataramane Gowda (Mandya) and Shreyas M Patel (Hassan).

The party naming Geetha Shivarajkumar for the Shivamogga seat seems to have set the stage for an exciting contest in the home district of BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa.

Geetha, daughter of former Chief Minister S Bangarappa, contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Shivamogga (Shimoga) on a Janata Dal(S) ticket and lost to Yediyurappa. The seat is currently held by Yediyurappa's son, BY Raghavedra.

Geetha, who is also the sister of Karnataka Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa and daughter-in-law of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar, joined the Congress ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka last year.

Venkataramane Gowda, also known as Star Chandru, is a contractor by profession. The Mandya seat is represented by Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent backed by the BJP.

The Congress had denied re-nomination to Muddahanumegowda in the 2019 elections to make way for Congress-JD(S) alliance candidate HD Deve Gowda who lost the polls. He officially joined the BJP in 2022, but kept a low profile. He returned to the Congress fold only last month.

“Congress has named candidates in segments where there was no confusion over the nominee,” a party leader said.

The BJP-JD(S) combine is yet to come out with its list of candidates. The BJP had swept the 2019 general elections, bagging 25 of the total 28 seats in the state, while an independent (Sumalatha Ambareesh) backed by the party had also emerged victorious.

Ex-minister among 4 from Telangana

Four candidates from Telangana including former Union minister Balram Naik (Mahabubabad) figured in the first list of Congress candidates.

The grand old party will be fielding Suresh Kumar Shetkar (Zaheerabad), C Vamshi Chand Reddy (Mahabubnagar) and Raghuveer Kunduru (Nalgonda).

Naik served as Minister of State between 2009 and 2013 under the UPA-II government.

Shetkar was a Lok Sabha member from Zaheerabad from 2009 to 2014, while Reddy is a former MLA.