Congress Finalises Digvijay Singh's Seat For Lok Sabha In Key Poll Body Meet

The Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) which met in Delhi on Thursday has finalised the candidature of senior leader Digvijaya Singh from Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat, sources said.

During the meeting, the party's Uttar Pradesh unit conveyed to the panel that the people of Amethi and Raebareli want a Gandhi family member to contest from there.

The CEC, chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, met here to finalise Lok Sabha poll candidates for Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources said that the candidature of Digvijaya Singh from Rajgarh, Arun Yadav from Guna and Kantilal Bhuria from Ratlam was finalised during the meeting for Madhya Pradesh which was attended by state chief Jitu Patwari and AICC general secretary in-charge of state Jitendra Singh.

Also, for the first time that the panel took up discussions on the candidates for the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.

Asked about Amethi and Raebareli seats, Congress' UP chief Ajay Rai said after the meeting, "We have given our proposal that a Gandhi family member should contest from Amethi and Raebareli as it is the demand of the people there. Now, it is up to the party leadership to decide on it." There is speculation that Rahul Gandhi may also contest from Amethi, besides his declared seat of Wayanad in Kerala, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Raebareli, a seat which was previously held by Sonia Gandhi. Both the seats in UP are considered bastions of the Gandhi family and the local units of the Congress have demanded that the two scions of the Gandhi family should contest from there.

While Digvijaya Singh is set to contest from Rajgarh, Mr Yadav would take on Union minister and former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Asked about the finalisation of candidates for Madhya Pradesh, Mr Patwari said, "We had stated that we will give more than 50 per cent tickets to youth. We have kept that in mind and the decisions have been taken unanimously. It will be declared tonight or tomorrow." "All big leaders with chances of winning are contesting," he said when asked about the candidature of Digvijaya Singh, who had contested from Bhopal in 2019 and lost to Pragya Singh Thakur.

UP Congress chief Rai, MP Congress chief Patwari and J&K unit chief Vikar Rasool Wani were present in the meetings held for their respective states. Also, the AICC state in-charges -- Avinash Pande (UP), Jitendra Singh (MP) and Bharatsinh Solanki -- were also present when candidates for their respective states were discussed.

The meeting of the CEC was attended by former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary K C Venugopal and other members of the panel.

However, Rahul Gandhi, who is also a member of the panel, was not present.

This is the third straight day when the Congress' CEC is holding its meeting.

The CEC on Wednesday had deliberated on the candidates for the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates in two lists for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning April 19.

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