 "Nilekani, Md Kaif in Congress' 1st list of candidates for LS polls")
The Congress on Saturday came out with a list of 194 candidates for the coming Lok Sabha elections which included the likes of cricketer Mohammed Kaif from Phulpur (UP) and Unique Identification Authority of India chairperson Nandan Nilekani from Bangalore South.
Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishen will contest from Jaunpur (UP). Covering 18 states, the list has big guns of the party - Sonia (Rae Bareilly) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi) - as well as several sitting Cabinet ministers and MPs. Controversial names like that of Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashok Chavan did not feature on the list. The list has 15 per cent women candidates and party sources said over 35 per cent are under 50 years.
Several candidates have been chosen through the Congress Primaries. These include Monash Borah (Guwahati), Somen Mitra (North Kolkata).
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will contest from Sasaram, Bihar. Pappu Yadav's wife Ranjita Ranjan will contest from Supaul, Bihar. Deepak Karma, son of slain Chhattisgarh leader Mahendra Karma, will contest from Bastar. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla is the nominee from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh. She joined Congress recently after lashing out at the sorry state of affairs in the BJP.
In Odisha, actors Aparajita Mohanty and Bijay Mohanty are being fielded from Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar, respectively. In Karnataka, apart from Nilekani, Justice Hanumanthappa is the nominee from Bellary.
Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishen will contest from Jaunpur (UP). Covering 18 states, the list has big guns of the party - Sonia (Rae Bareilly) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi) - as well as several sitting Cabinet ministers and MPs. Controversial names like that of Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashok Chavan did not feature on the list. The list has 15 per cent women candidates and party sources said over 35 per cent are under 50 years.
Several candidates have been chosen through the Congress Primaries. These include Monash Borah (Guwahati), Somen Mitra (North Kolkata).
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With 80 seats at stake in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress released a major chunk on Saturday, Union ministers Salman Khurshid, R P N Singh, Sriprakash Jaiswal, P L Punia, Beni Prasad Verma. Other senior leaders such as Sushilkumar Shinde, Milind Deora and Priya Dutt will contest Maharahstra.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar will contest from Sasaram, Bihar. Pappu Yadav's wife Ranjita Ranjan will contest from Supaul, Bihar. Deepak Karma, son of slain Chhattisgarh leader Mahendra Karma, will contest from Bastar. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla is the nominee from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh. She joined Congress recently after lashing out at the sorry state of affairs in the BJP.
In Odisha, actors Aparajita Mohanty and Bijay Mohanty are being fielded from Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar, respectively. In Karnataka, apart from Nilekani, Justice Hanumanthappa is the nominee from Bellary.