Congress Candidate List: Vikramaditya Singh Vs Kangana Ranaut In Mandi, Manish Tewari To Fight In Chandigarh

With Lok Sabha elections around the corner, Congress has pulled up its socks and trying its level best to present a strong challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led ruling BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024. On Saturday, the party announced a list of 16 candidates for Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Chandigarh, and Odisha.

Among the 16 high-profile names, Congress MLA Vikramaditya Singh, son of former Chief Minister Vir Bhadra Singh and State President Pratibha Singh, was the major highlight who will lock horns against BJP candidate and famous Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut.

Earlier, Congress top brass offered Pratibha Singh to contest Mandi elections but she denied stating she wanted to serve and strengthen the party's roots.

Today morning, she confirmed her son's candidature from the same seat, adding that "people of Mandi have always been with us".

Attacking Kangana, the Himachal Pradesh Congress chief said, "I pray to Lord Ram to give her wisdom and hope she goes back pure from 'Dev Bhoomi' Himachal to Bollywood because she will not win the elections as she knows nothing about people of Himachal."

The grand old party has also fielded senior Congress leader Manish Tewari from Chandigarh who will take on BJP's Sanjay Tandon. The party has replaced actor Kiran Kher following her ill health condition.

Congress also placed Vinod Sultanpuri, the son of veteran Congress leader K D Sultanpuri, from the Shimla-SC constituency.

The party also announced four candidates from Gujarat and nine from Odisha.

Gujarat

• Ramji Thakore (Palvi) from the Mehesana
• Himmatsinh Patel from Ahmedabad East
• Pareshbhai Dhanani from Rajkot
• Naishadh Desai from the Navasari seat

Odisha

• Mohan Hembram from the Keonjhar (ST seat)
• Srikant Kumar Jena from Balasore
• Anant Prasad Sethi from Bhadrak (SC seat)
• Anchal Das from Jajpur (SC constituency)
• Sashmita Behera from Dhenkalan
• Sidharth Swaroop Das from Kendrapara
• Rabindra Kumar Sethy from Jagatsinghpur (SC seat)
• Sucharita Mohunty from Puri
• Yasir Nawaz from Bhubaneshwar

The Congress also announced five candidates for the bye-elections to five assembly segments in Gujarat.