The Congress has announced a second list of 43 candidates for five states — Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and one seat of the Daman and Diu Union Territory. Prominent among the candidates are GenNext leaders Gaurav Gogoi, son of former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi; Vaibhav Gehlot, the son of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath.
In Assam, where the Congress had three consecutive terms in power, its government helmed by Tarun Gogoi crashed in 2016. The party currently has three MPs from the state.
Gaurav Gogoi, the Congress’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, will be contesting from Jorhat — a change from the Kaliabor constituency he has been representing since 2019.
The Koliabor constituency was absorbed into the Kaziranga seat during the delimitation exercise in the state. Sources said Mr Gogoi had preferred to shift to Jorhat, which is also the home constituency of his late father Tarun Gogoi.
Nakul Nath, who was rumoured to be joining the BJP after his father was dropped from the Madhya Pradesh Congress chief’s post, has been fielded again from Chhindwara, the constituency he currently represents. Nath senior, 77, has said he would not contest elections any more.
The Congress was routed in Madhya Pradesh in the state election held last year and has been having trouble holding its flock together. Among its 10 candidates in this list are two prominent leaders.
Kamleshwar Patel, candidate from Sidhi and Omkar Singh Markam, candidate from the ST seat of Mandla, were both ministers in Kamal Nath’s cabinet.
In Rajasthan — the heartland state the Congress lost to the BJP last year — the party has announced 10 candidates.
Vaibhav Gehlot, who will fight from Jalore, had lost the election from Jodhput to Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in 2019. This time, several surveys were conducted before he chose a new constituency. Jalore is adjacent to his hometown Jodhpur.
Besides, the state’s former police chief Harish Meena will contest from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur. Rahul Kaswa, who crossed over from the BJP, will contest from Churu and Brijendra Ola from Jhunjhunu.
The Congress list has also been chosen keeping in mind the caste arithmetic. Betting on Rahul Kaswa, who crossed over after being denied ticket is also good politics, party leaders maintain. Mr Kaswa comes from a family of grassroots politicians and is deeply connected to his constituency Churu. The BJP had dropped him and fielded para-Olympian Devendra Jhajharia.
Many had been counting on Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot and Govind Singh Dotasara leading from the front and contesting in this election. But the party brass has decided to play safe.
In Gujarat, the party has fielded two sitting MLAs and a former legislator. two-term Congress legislator from Vav constituency, Geniben Thakor, will contest from Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat in north Gujarat against BJP’s Rekhaben Chaudhary.
Tribal MLA Anant Patel — the sitting MLA from Vansda seat — will contest from Valsad, reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
Former MLA Lalit Vasoya will contest from Porbandar Lok Sabha sea, which he won in 2019.
The Congress’s second list was announced a day after the party’s central election committee, chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, met to finalise the candidates.
In the meeting, discussions were held for more than 60 seats in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Assam and the Union Territory of Daman and Diu.
The seats announced today include 13 from Assam, 10 from Madhya Pradesh, 10 from Rajasthan, seven from Gujarat and three from Uttarakhand.
