Elections 2019: Congress Names 34 More Candidates, Digivijaya From Bhopal

New Delhi/Bhopal: The Congress on Saturday declared 34 more candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, fielding Uttar Pradesh unit chief Raj Babbar from Fatehpur Sikri, whose candidature was earlier announced from Moradabad.

In Bhopal, ending speculation, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on announced that former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Bhopal constituency on the Congress ticket.

"The central election campaign committee of the party has decided that Digvijaya Singh will contest from Bhopal. He was given the option to contest from Indore, Jabalpur or Bhopal. Later, it was decided that he will be the Congress candidate from Bhopal," Kamal Nath told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Bhopal.

The party has also fielded former Union Minister Renuka Chowdhary from Khammam parliamentary constituency in Telangana while the son of veteran Congress leader Karan Singh, Vikramaditya Singh, will stand from Udhampur (Jammu and Kashmir) against Union Minister Jitendra Singh.

The list comprises four candidates from Chhattisgarh, two each from Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura and Odisha, five from Maharashtra, eight from Tamil Nadu, nine from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Telangana and Puducherry.

Among the nine candidates announced for Uttar Pradesh, the party has nominated Babbar from Fatehpur Sikri. His candidature was earlier announced for the Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) seat where Urdu poet Imran Pratapgarhi is now being nominated from.

The party nominated former Uttar Pradesh Minister Nasimuddin Siddique from Bijnor (UP). Siddique, once a close aide of Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, has replaced Indira Bhatti.

Bal Kumar Patel, a former Samajwadi Party (SP) MP from Mirzapur (UP) has been fielded from Banda (UP). He joined the Congress on Friday in the presence of party President Rahul Gandhi and General Secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Patel, who was a prominent face for the SP from the Kurmi community, was elected as an MP from Mirzapur in 2009. In 2014, the party changed his constituency from Mirzapur to Banda, where he lost by a narrow margin.

The party has fielded Trilokiram Diwakar from Hathras, Preeta Harit from Agra, Praveen Aron from Bareilly, Virendra Kumar Verma from Hardoi and Girish Chandra Pasi from Kaushambi. 

In Chhattisgath, the party has fielded Atal Srivastava from Bilaspur, Bholaram Sahu from Rajnandgaon, Pramod Dubey from Raipur and Dhanendra Sahu from Mahasamund.

Among the three candidates announced from J&K, the party has fielded Raman Bhall from Jammu. 

The Congress has fielded Vinayak Bagade from Chandrapur in Maharashtra where he will contest the polls against Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir. Vilas Keshavrao Autade will contest from Jalna, Subhash Zambad from Aurangabad, Suresh Kashinath Taware from Bhiwandi, Machhlindra Kamant from Latur.

Eight names figured in the list of candidates for Tamil Nadu which includes two former state party heads Su. Thirunavukkarasar (Tiruchirappalli) and E.V.K.S. Elangovan (Theni).

The other six are K. Jayakumar (Tiruvallur), A. Chellakumar (Krishnagiri), M.K.Vishnu Prasad (Arani), Selvi Jothi Mani (Karur), Manickam Tagore (Virudhunagar) and H. Vasanthakumar (Kanyakumari).

The obvious miss in the list was its candidate from the Sivaganga constituency. In 2014, Karti Chidambaram, the son of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, fought and lost in Sivaganga. In the 2009 and 2004 elections, P. Chidambaram represented the constituency.

V. Vaithilingam will represent the lone Puducherry seat.

As part of the DMK-led alliance, the Congress got a total of 10 Lok Sabha seats -- nine in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat.

Subal Bhowmick will contest from Tripura West and Pragya Deb Burman from Tripura East, according to the list.