Rahul Gandhi, Bhupesh Baghel named in 1st Congress list for Lok Sabha polls

The Congress on Friday announced its first list of 39 candidates across eight states and a Union territory for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, nominating senior leader Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala, former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh, sitting MP Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram, and party general secretary KC Venugopal from Alappuzha in Kerala.
The Congress banked on senior leaders and former ministers in several states. It named 16 candidates in Kerala which has 20 seats, seven in Karnataka which has 28, four in Telangana which has 17, and six in Chhattisgarh which has 11. It also named candidates for both seats in Meghalaya, the lone seats in Lakshadweep, Nagaland and Sikkim, and one of the two seats in Tripura.
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At least six state unit chiefs were accommodated in the first list that was heavily loaded in favour of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes and minorities, who were represented in 24 out of the 39 seats.
“This Lok Sabha elections will decide the future of the country. Our target is to win maximum seats to eradicate this fascist government. Senior leaders would be there in the upcoming list too,” said Venugopal, flanked by party treasurer Ajay Maken and publicity department chief Pawan Khera.
Eighteen sitting MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, were repeated.
The BJP has already announced 195 candidates on March 3.
The larger presence of SC, ST and OBCs is in sync with the Congress’s ongoing campaign to give greater share to marginalised caste groups and Rahul Gandhi’s frequent pitch for increased participation of these communities in the decision-making process. Party insiders also added that leadership was looking to increase the number of SC, ST and OBC candidates to counter the BJP’s outreach and popularity to these sections.
The party also pushed its larger agenda of giving more space to younger leaders and announced that 12 contestants are below 50. Venugopal announced that eight contestants were between 50 and 60, 12 between 61 and 70, and seven between 71 and 76.
The Congress general secretary announced that the candidates were selected on the basis of “winnability and loyalty” and said that the party was trying in “maximum possible ways” to go with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the Opposition grouping that was forged to take on the BJP but which has suffered attrition in recent months amid acrimony over seat sharing.
“Still there are little issues in West Bengal and Assam. We are trying to sort it out. The Congress is very clear: We are here to reduce maximum BJP seats. We are ready to sacrifice anything to reduce BJP seats. We are expecting the same level of cooperation with other partners. In some states we need to move forward,” he said, when asked about the status of seat-sharing in Bengal and Assam.
The Congress’s first list came less than 24 hours after the party’s apex poll body, the central election commission (CEC), met on Thursday evening to discuss seats in seven northeastern states, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. The next meeting of CEC, in which northern states such as Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are set to be discussed, will be called on March 11.
The party named a number of state unit chiefs in its first list – including Kerala unit chief K Sudhkaran from Kannur, Meghalaya unit chief and former Union minister Vincent Pala from Shillong, Sikkim unit head Gopal Chettri from the lone seat in the state, Tripura chief Asim Kumar Saha from Tripura West, Md Hamdullaha Sayeed from Lakshadweep, and Nagaland state chief S Supongmeren Jamir from the lone seat in the state. Jamir, who hails from the dominant Ao tribe, is credited for the success of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Nagaland.
“The revival of the Congress in Nagaland is based on our revival in Mokokchung district (which is dominated by Ao tribes). The decision to nominate Jamir is a well-calculated one,” said All India Congress Committee secretary Ranajit Mukherjee, who handles Nagaland.
In Kerala, a state the Congress dominated in 2019 by winning 15 of the 16 seats it contested (its allies won another three), the party fielded Venugopal Alappuzha, a seat where he was an MP from 2014. In the last elections, the Congress fielded Shanimol Usman and he lost to the Left’s AM Ariff, who is the lone communist Lok Sabha MP from Kerala. Rahul Gandhi will fight for a second time from Wayanad amid strong speculation that he will also contest from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, a seat he won in 2004, 2009 and 2014 but lost in 2019.
The party retained most of its Kerala MPs, but dropped its Thrissur lawmaker TN Prathapan. Former state unit chief K Muraleedharan, who is a sitting MP from Vadakara, was fielded from this high-profile seat. Kodikunnil Suresh, the party’s Lok Sabha chief whip, was named from Mavelikkara. “The BJP has fielded popular actor Suresh Gopi from Thrissur. And Prathapan was seen as a lightweight candidate against Gopi. The KPCC waned to field Muraleedharan, who is the son of late Kerala CM K Karunakaran and enjoys a mass support,” said a party functionary from Kerala, requesting anonymity.
In Chhattisgarh, the party puts its faith in its senior leadership with three former ministers, including former CM Baghel, among the six candidates announced. Senior Congress party leaders said they hoped that individual heft would help them regain lost ground in the state, where they currently hold only two of the 11 Lok Sabha seats and suffered a shock defeat in the assembly elections in December 2023.
The party nominated former state home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu who will fight from Mahasamund, former urban affairs minister Shivkumar Dahariya from Janjgir Champa, sitting MP Jyotsana Mahant from Korba, former MLA Vikas Upadhyaya from Raipur, and newcomer Rajendra Sahu from Durg. Baghel will contest from Rajnandgaon, once the seat of former three-time chief minister and now Vidhan Sabha speaker Raman Singh. This is the third time Baghel will contest parliamentary elections, after he contested from Durg in 2004 and Raipur in 2009, losing on both occasions.
In Telangana, the party named former Union minister Balram Naik from Mahabubabad, Suresh Kumar Shetkar from Zaheerabad, Challa Vamshichand Reddy from Mahabubnagar and Kunduru Raghuveer Reddy from Nalgonda. Naik served as Union minister of state between 2009 and 2013. Shetkar was a Lok Sabha member from Zaheerabad from 2009 to 2014, while Reddy is a former MLA. Kunduru Raghuveer Reddy is the son of veteran Congress leader K Jana Reddy.
In Karnataka, the party named DK Suresh from Bangalore Rural, Kannada actor Shivarajkumar’s wife Geetha Shivarajkumar from Shimoga, HR Algur from Bijapur, Anandswamy Gaddadevarmath from Haveri, S P Muddahanumegowda from Tumkur, Venkataramane Gowda from Mandya and Shreyas M Patel from Hassan.
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A three-time MP, Suresh is the brother of Karnataka Congress chief and deputy CM D K Shivakumar and is the sitting member from Bangalore Rural. He was the only Congress candidate to win in the 2019 general elections in the state.
Banuchandar Nagarajan, a right-leaning analyst, said, “The Congress has mainly focused on states where it will go alone. Just 3 women in the list released on women’s day. As much as BJP focuses on symbolism, Congress doesn’t seem to take it seriously. Of the nine people that have a chance for a hat-trick after the two tough elections of 2014 and 2016, have made it! viz. Pala, DK Suresh, Raghavan, K Suresh, Antony, Tharoor. Surprising that names of Bittu, Gogoi & Adhir, (others that can win the 3rd time) not in the Congress first list. Congress got 15 in Kerala out of its total 52 MPs. It will be a tough ask this time with strong CPM candidates and ascending BJP.”