Lok Sabha elections 2019: Congress releases 3rd list of 18 candidates; Dev, Gogoi make the cut

New Delhi, Mar 15: The Congress on Friday released its third list of 18 candidates which has names of prominent leaders such as Sushmita Dev, Gaurav Gogoi and Mukul Sangma for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Third list released by the Congress has names of candidates for five Lok Sabha seats in Assam, eight in Telangana, two in Meghalaya, and one each in Sikkim, Nagaland and Uttar Pradesh.

Congress had on March 7 released the first list of 15 candidates for Lok Sabha elections 2019, and the second list of 21 was released on March 13.

In the third list, Sushmita Dev, a sitting MP, will contest from Silchar in Assam. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Sushmita Dev defeated BJP's Kabindra Purkayastha by around 35,000 votes to script a win. The constituency will vote in the second phase of polling on April 18.

The third list also has the name of Gaurav Gogoi who would contest the upcoming polls from Kaliabor in Assam. Gaurav Gogoi is a sitting MP from Kaliabor. In 2014, Gourav Gogoi of the Congress won the seat defeating Mrinal Kumar Saikia of the BJP by 93,874 votes by securing 38% of the votes. Kaliabor has been a Congress stronghold.

Full list of Congress candidates in the third list:

The Congress has decided to field Tanju Punia from Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki in the third list. With this the Congress has announced 28 candidates for Uttar Pradesh so far.

Uttar Pradesh is politically the most important state for Lok Sabha elections as the state sends 80 MPs to the Lower House. Winning 71 out of the 80 seats in previous general elections was one of the important factors which propelled the BJP to power in 2014. The Congress could just win 2 seats in UP in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

A high octane political battle is on the cards in UP and the state will vote on different dates over the 40 days beginning April 11. UP will vote on April 11, 18, 23 and 29 and May 6, 12 and 19.