Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge may skip 2024 Lok Sabha contest
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge might not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, NDTV reported. The report, quoting party veterans, said that Kharge needs to focus on "larger responsibilities" rather than engaging in personal political campaigning. Kharge has won twice previously from Karnataka's Gulbarga constituency, where he faced defeat in the 2019 elections. Since then, he has served in the Rajya Sabha, where he is the leader of the opposition. He still has four years left in the House.
Why does this story matter?
The Congress has never had party chiefs abstain from contesting elections. Both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, former chiefs, have contested the general elections and won. Notably, Rahul lost the party bastion Amethi to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Smriti Irani in 2019 but won in Wayanad. Similarly, in the BJP, previous chiefs Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah won from Lucknow and Gandhinagar in 2014 and 2019, respectively.
Kharge may nominate son-in-law for Gulbarga seat
According to reports, during last week's meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC), Kharge's name was unanimously considered for the Gulbarga constituency. However, the party chief reportedly said that he does not want to get "confined to one constituency but concentrate across the country." It is likely that he might nominate his son-in-law, Radhakrishnan Doddamani, for the seat. His son Priyank Kharge, who is a minister in the Karnataka cabinet, is also not keen on contesting the elections.
Congress announces candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha elections
So far, the Congress has issued two lists of candidates for the upcoming elections. The party announced 39 candidates in its first list, comprising 16 from Kerala, seven from Karnataka, six from Chhattisgarh, four from Telangana, two from Meghalaya, and one each from Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, and Lakshwadeep. The Congress named 40 more people from Rajasthan, Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and the Union territories of Daman and Diu, in its second list.
Ongoing discussions and seat-sharing issues
The Congress's CEC reportedly plans to reconvene soon to discuss candidate selections for the remaining states. The party will hold discussions on the Northeast states during the next round of meetings. In the meantime, the Congress continues to work on resolving seat-sharing issues in Maharashtra and Bengal—which account for 90 seats combined. Negotiations with Maha Vikas Aghadi allies for Maharashtra's 48 seats are ongoing, while efforts to placate Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee in Bengal persist.