Congress releases fifth list of candidates for Lok Sabha election

The Congress has released its fifth list of 56 candidates for the Lok Sabha election, including 22 from Andhra Pradesh and 11 from West Bengal.

The list, released late on March 18, also included eight candidates from Telangana, six from Odisha, five from Assam and three from Uttar Pradesh. On Saturday, the Congress had called off alliance talks with the Left parties in West Bengal.

The Congress has fielded former President Pranab Mukherjee’s son, Abhijit Mukherjee, from Jangipur Lok Sabha seat, former PCC chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Behrampur and former minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi’s wife Deepa Dasmunshi from Raiganj.

The party fielded former Union minister M M Pallam Raju from Kakinada and party’s former Rajya Sabha member J D Seelam from Bapatla reserved seat. It fielded its Rajya Sabha member Bhubaneswar Kalita from Mangaldoi in Assam and former Union minister Bhakt Charan Das from Kalahandi in Odisha.

State party chief Uttam Kumar Reddy was fielded from Nalgonda in Telangana. The list was declared after a meeting of the Congress central election committee chaired by party chief Rahul Gandhi. The Congress has so far announced a total of 137 candidates for the Lok Sabha election. The party also issued a list of 36 candidates for the Odisha Assembly election.