Rahul may fight from Amethi too

New Delhi: Amid speculation that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will likely contest from Uttar Pradesh, the Congress central election committee (CEC) will meet on Thursday to pick party candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Gandhi will attend the CEC meeting in the national capital.

The Congress has not announced any candidates yet, while the BJP has already released its first list of 195 candidates for the impending general election. Insiders claim that after Mrs Gandhi opted for the Rajya Sabha, Vadra is all set to begin her electoral journey from Rae Bareli, a stronghold for the party in Uttar Pradesh.

Gandhi is expected to re-enter the political arena in Amethi, along with his present constituency Wayanad in Kerala.

Both Amethi and Rae Bareli have been seats of the Gandhi family, with the exception of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when Gandhi lost the Amethi seat to Union minister Smriti Irani.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The first meeting of the Congress CEC that considers and decides on candidates for the Lok Sabha polls is being held at 6 pm on March 7th.”

The AICC screening committees have forwarded their lists of shortlisted candidates to the CEC of the party to take a final call and announce the nominees.

Apart from Gandhi and Vadra, most of the fifty sitting MPs are expected to be re-nominated by the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Several other prominent leaders of the party are also expected to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

The party’s national alliance committee, headed by Mukul Wasnik, has been holding meetings with top leaders of parties under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.) bloc on seat-sharing for the general elections.

The party has announced seat-sharing with the SP in Uttar Pradesh and the AAP in Delhi, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Haryana and Goa.