Rahul Gandhi from Amethi or Wayanad? Suspense on as Congress readies 1st list for Lok Sabha polls

The Congress's Central Election Committee's first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is likely to be out today. The suspense is over the seats which would be represented by Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi.

According to sources, the first list will be released on Friday. Rahul Gandhi's name for the Wayanad seat has been suggested by the party's screening committee in Kerala. In all likelihood, Rahul Gandhi, who is the sitting MP from Wayanad, will contest from the seat again.

However, it is not clear yet if Rahul Gandhi will return to Amethi, his old turf, besides contesting from Wayanad. The CEC did not discuss candidates for UP. Among the other big names doing rounds are Bhupesh Baghel from Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon and Jyotsna Mahant from Korba. The party will be contesting 16 of the 20 seats from Kerala with former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor leading the list from the state. 

Delhi reportedly is still a tussle for a the grand old party, especially Chandni Chowk, Northwest and Northeast seats. The party is likely to come up with 60 candidates from 10 states, which includes Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Delhi and Chhattisgarh.

Among the names discussed for Delhi include J P Agarwal,  former MP Sandeep Dikshit and Mahila Congress chief Alka Lamba. In Northeast Delhi, names including that of DPCC president Arvinder Singh Lovely and his predecessor Anil Chaudhary were discussed. 

There is also uncertainty on whether Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her political debut. This comes even as there is a strong sentiment among Congress workers who want Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Raebareli after her mother Sonia Gandhi vacated the seat to contest Rajya Sabha polls.

In Karnataka, which has a Congress government, candidates on 4-5 seats are yet to be decided by the top brass.

According to sources, the seat of Gulbarga, which is a Congress stronghold, was not discussed at the meeting even as there were reports that Mallikarjun Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani was among the frontrunners for the ticket.