Lok Sabha Election 2024: Congress Releases Candidates List For Andhra, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal

Sharmila is sister of sitting Andhra Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.

With the voting dates approaching closer for the Lok Sabha polls, Congress on Tuesday released a list of 17 candidates from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal. The party had faced snubbing in West Bengal at the hands of Trinamool Congress and now it has announced candidates for the Darjeeling seat fielding Dr Munish Tamang from the seat. 

In Andhra Pradesh, YS Sharmila Reddy, sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the party's state president, has been fielded from the Kadapa seat. JD Seelam will contest from Bapatla, Gidugu Rudra Raju from Rajahmundry and MM Pallam Raju from Kakinada.

In Bihar, senior party leader Tariq Anwar will contest from Katihar, Mohammad Jawed from Kishanganj and Ajeet Sharma from Bhagalpur.

In Odisha, Sanjau Bhoi has been fielded from Bargarh seat, Janardan Dehury from Sundargarh, Manoj Mishra from Bolangir, Draupadi Majhi from Kalahandi, Bhujabal Majhi from Nabarangpur, Amir Chand Nayak from Kandhamal, Rashmi Ranjan Patnaik from Berhampur and Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka from Koraput.
Munish Tamang will contest from West Bengal's Darjeeling seat.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, two-time MP from Bihar's Muzaffarpur, Ajay Nishad, resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joined the Congress on Tuesday. This comes after the BJP, in its fifth list of candidates, gave the ticket to Raj Bhushan Nishad from Muzaffarpur, who was defeated by Ajay Nishad in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with more than 4 lakh 10 thousand votes.

The Congress has so far announced names of 237 candidates with announcement of 17 candidates on April 2. Congress released its first list of 39 candidates on March 8. This was followed by 43 candidates in the second list on March 12, 57 candidates on March 21, 46 candidates on March 23, 3 candidates on March 24, 5 candidates on March 25, 5 candidates on March 26, 14 candidates on March 27 and 5 candidates on March 29. The party additionally announced name of one candidate - KV Gowtham from Karnataka's Kolar on March 30. On April 1, the party announced two candidates - from Maharashtra's Akola and Telangana's Waranagal.

The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases starting April 19. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.