According to its fourth list released late on Saturday night, Congress has finalised candidates for 12 seats in Kerala, seven in Uttar Pradesh, five Chhattisgarh, two in Arunachal Pradesh and one in Andaman and Nicobar islands
Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi: Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor and former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Nabam Tuki are among 27 candidates who will be fielded by Congress party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
According to its fourth list released late on Saturday night, Congress has finalised candidates for 12 seats in Kerala, seven in Uttar Pradesh, five Chhattisgarh, two in Arunachal Pradesh and one in Andaman and Nicobar islands.
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Two-time sitting MP Shashi Tharoor has been fielded from Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala and former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki is set for a face-off in Arunachal West parliamentary constituency.
In Kerala, Hibi Eden, MLA, will be fielded in Ernakulam constituency in place of sitting member KV Thomas. Rajmohan Unnithan has been selected to contest from Kasaragod, a CPM stronghold. Anto Antony, the sitting MP has been fielded from Pathanamthitta.
Other candidates announced by the Congress in Kerala include M K Raghavan from Kozhikode, VK Sreekantan from Palakkad, Remya Haridas from Alathur, TN Pratapan from Thrissur, Benny Behanan from Chalakudy, Dean Kuriakose from Idukki, Kodikunnil Suresh from Mavelikera and, K Sudhakaran from Kannur.
The Congress is contesting on 16 out of the 20 seats in Kerala leaving four seats for its allies - two seats for the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and one each for the Kerala Congress (Mani) and Socialist Party (RSP). Candidates for Alappuzha, Wayanad, Attingal and Vadakara have not been announced. Kerala goes to polls on April 23 in the third phase of the seven-phase elections.
With the fourth list, the Congress has thus far announced 35 candidates for the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
Harendra Malik from Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, Indira Bhatti from Bijnor, Omprakash Sharma from Meerut, Arvind Singh Chauhan from Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ch Brijendra Singh from Aligarh, Pritam Lodhi from Hamirpur and Bal Krishna Chauhan from Ghoshi have been given tickets in Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier on Saturday, Apna Dal's Krishna Patel faction sealed an alliance with Congress and finalised seat-sharing arrangement in Uttar Pradesh. It will be contesting from Basti and Pilibhit parliamentary constituencies of the state.
The party also released a list of five candidates from Chhattisgarh, where it unseated BJP to form the government last year. Three of the five candidates announced include sitting MLAs Deepak Baij (Chitrakot), Khel Sai Singh (Surguja) and Laljeet Singh Rathiya (Raigarh).
Ravi Bhardwaj from Jangir-Champa and Biresh Thakur from Kanker are the other two. Apart from Nabam Tuki who will contest from Arunachal West, the party is fielding James L Wanglet from Arunachal Pradesh after party dropped Ninong Ering from Arunachal East. Kuldeep Rai Sharma has been fielded by the Congress in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
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