Kanhaiya Kumar among 3 Congress candidates in Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 14 (IANS): Congress on Sunday released another list of 10 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, including Kanhaiya Kumar who will be contesting from the Northeast Delhi seat.

Congress has announced candidates for three remaining Lok Sabha seats in Delhi where they will contest in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Under the INDIA bloc alliance, out of seven seats in Delhi, AAP is contesting four seats while Congress will contest three seats.

The Congress had fielded J.P. Agarwal from Chandni Chowk against BJP’s Praveen Khandelwal, a businessman.

Agarwal, who secured victory in the 2009 Lok Sabha election representing North East Delhi, faced defeat against Manoj Tiwari in 2014.

In 2019, he shifted his focus to Chandni Chowk, a constituency that had previously elected him to the Lok Sabha in 1984, 1989, and 1996, but was unsuccessful against BJP’s Harsh Vardhan.

Against BJP’s Manoj Tiwari, Congress had fielded Kanhaiya Kumar from northeast Delhi. North East Delhi constituency holds a significant population of Purvanchalis (individuals from eastern UP and Bihar) and Muslims.

Being a Purvanchali himself, Kumar had previously contested the 2019 election from Begusarai in Bihar under CPI but was unsuccessful.

From Northwest Delhi, Udit Raj will be contesting against BJP’s Yogendra Chandolia, a former Mayor in the trifurcated municipal corporations.

Udit Raj, a former Indian Revenue Services officer, emerged victorious in the 2014 Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate from North West Delhi, defeating AAP’s Rakhi Birla. Disappointed by BJP's decision not to nominate him for another term, he joined Congress in 2019.

Meanwhile, the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress has also selected six candidates from Punjab including Gurjeet Singh Aujla from Amritsar, Charanjit Singh Channi from Jalandhar, Amar Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu from Bathinda, Sukhpal Singh Khaira from Sangrur, and Dharamvir Gandhi from Patiala.

The list also includes Ujjwal Rewati Raman Singh as a candidate for Allahabad constituency.