Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI, MAR 12 : The Congress on Tuesday released its second list of 43 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The list features names of sons of senior Congress leaders, including Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot.

Nakul Nath, who is the son of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, has been fielded from Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. He is a sitting MP from the seat.

Vaibhav Gehlot is the son of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. He has been fielded from Jalore in Rajasthan.

Gaurav Gogoi, son of former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, has been fielded from Jorhat. Gogoi is a sitting MP from the Kaliabor constituency.

The Congress’s second list features 12 candidates from Assam, 7 from Gujarat, 10 from Madhya Pradesh, 10 from Rajasthan, and 1 from Daman and Diu.

According to Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, 76.7 per cent of candidates in the list belong to the minority, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Castes categories.

Vaibhav Gehlot, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha shift from Jodhpur, shifted his base to Jalore, which is his father’s home turf.

Ashok Gehlot skipped the Congress’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting on Monday.

Sources said that the issue of Gehlot not contesting polls was raised in the meeting. KC Venugopal asked why Gehlot was not keen on contesting the polls when another former Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel, was taking the plunge.

A senior Congress leader cited Gehlot’s ill health for not contesting from Jodhpur, sources said.

-PTI