NEW DELHI, March 8 (NNN-XINHUA) — India’s main opposition party the Indian National Congress (INC) has released its first list of candidates ahead of the forthcoming general elections. The general polls are slated to be held sometime in April-May, though the exact schedule is yet to be announced.
A total of 15 candidates were announced in the INC’s first list, including Party President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi who would be contesting from Amethi and Rae Bareli parliamentary constituencies, respectively, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Out of the 15 parliamentary constituencies where candidates’ names were announced, 11 are from Uttar Pradesh and four from the western state of Gujarat.
Rahul is the son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the great-grandson of the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He has represented his parliamentary constituency Amethi three times since 2004.
Sonia Gandhi, the widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has been a parliamentarian since 1999. This would be her sixth contest.
Interestingly, Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was recently appointed as party’s General Secretary, did not figure in the first list of party’s candidates. Priyanka was made the in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh to look after the election process in 41 parliamentary constituencies. There are a total of 80 parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh.
NNN-XINHUA