CONGRESS LS LIST: RAJ BABBAR TO FIGHT FROM GURGAON; NO NAME YET FOR AMETHI, RAE BARELI

NEW DELHI: The Congress party on Tuesday evening announced actor-turned politician Raj Babbar as its candidate for the Gurgaon constituency in the Lok Sabha elections. Raj Babbar, a seasoned Congress leader, has previously served as a Member of Parliament from Firozabad and Agra in Uttar Pradesh.

The grand old party has unveiled four candidates in its latest election list. Former Union minister Anand Sharma will contest from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, while Satpal Raizada has been nominated for Hamirpur. Additionally, Bhushan Patil has been named as the candidate for Mumbai North.

With only three days left until the deadline for filing nominations, the Congress has maintained suspense regarding the prestigious Amethi and Raebareli constituencies. Candidates for these seats have not been named in the latest list released for the Lok Sabha polls.

In Uttar Pradesh, Congress workers staged a sit-in on Tuesday, demanding the party to nominate a member of the Gandhi family as its candidate from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat.

The constituency is scheduled for polls on May 20 in the fifth phase of the seven-phase general elections. Despite only three days remaining for the filing of nomination papers, the Congress has not yet announced a candidate for the seat, according to the party's district spokesperson, Anil Singh.

Leaders and workers, including Congress district president Pradeep Singhal and former district president Yogendra Mishra, convened at the party office with posters stating "Amethi maange Rahul Gandhi. Amethi maange Priyanka Gandhi (Amethi wants Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra)."

"People of the constituency and Congress workers want a member of the Gandhi family as their candidate. We want Rahul Gandhi to contest from Amethi to bring back its lost honour," Singh said.

The demonstrators demanded that the Congress immediately announce a candidate in Amethi, emphasising that the nominee should be from the Gandhi family. The seat was secured by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in 2014. However, in 2019, Gandhi contested the general elections from both Wayanad in Kerala and Amethi. He lost Amethi to BJP's Smriti Irani.

(With inputs from agencies)