Key Congress Meet To Finalise Candidates For 2024 Polls Ends; Rahul Gandhi To Contest From Wayanad

New Delhi: A crucial meeting of the Congress's Central Election Committee (CEC) was held at the AICC Headquarters in Delhi to finalise the party's candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, said reports on Thursday. It has now emerged that Rahul Gandhi's name has been confirmed from Kerala's Wayanad seat for Lok Sabha Elections during the CEC meeting.

Key Figures in Attendance

The meeting was attended by prominent figures including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, and several other senior leaders.

#WATCH | Delhi | Congress CEC meets to select candidates for Lok Sabha elections pic.twitter.com/eqLkbakWkm — ANI (@ANI) March 7, 2024

Key States In Focus

The crucial CEC meeting focussed on the selection of candidates for multiple states, spanning Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur, among others.

Regarding the Congress CEC meeting, the party's General Secretary (Communications), Jairam Ramesh earlier said, "CEC will discuss all seats. Final decisions will be taken wherever possible. CEC is the highest body that deliberates on and finalises candidates."

According to sources, deliberations for the Amethi and Rai Bareli constituencies were excluded from today's agenda. There are intense speculations regarding the potential candidature of Rahul Gandhi from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Rae Bareli, constituencies previously held by Sonia Gandhi. Both seats are considered strongholds of the Gandhi family, and local Congress units have urged the scions of the family to contest from there, according to news agency PTI.

Union Minister Smriti Irani has voiced surprise at the prolonged delay in candidate announcements, suggesting it indicates a lack of confidence within the Congress, particularly in traditional bastions like Amethi.

Irani, who defeated Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 elections from the Amethi seat, said, "Why are people who say that Amethi is the Gandhi family's bastion taking so much time to announce a candidate? Their lack of confidence tells that Amethi is no longer the Congress' stronghold."

Congress Manifesto Preparations

Meanwhile, the Congress manifesto committee, led by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, has finalized a draft manifesto, awaiting review by the Congress Working Committee before becoming the party's official document. "We have prepared the draft manifesto. Now it will go to the Congress Working Committee. They will finalize the manifesto then it will become the Congress party document. Tomorrow we will hand over this draft to the Congress President," he said.

While the Congress is yet to unveil its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, speculations suggest an imminent release of the first list to commence election campaigns. The BJP unveiled its initial list of 195 candidates for the polls last week.

Seat-Sharing Arrangements

In Uttar Pradesh, as part of the seat-sharing agreement within the INDIA bloc, the Congress is slated to field 17 candidates out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. With the Lok Sabha polls projected for April-May this year, the political landscape is poised for dynamic shifts as parties strategize and finalize their contenders for the electoral battle ahead.