Rahul Gandhi to contest from Wayanad again, Congress names 39 candidates in 1st list
During the 2021 Kerala Assembly elections, Congress dominated seven segments that make up the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.
This win was cemented despite the LDF's historic victory in the Assembly. Kerala which has earned a reputation of being anti-incumbent, voted the CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan's party to the Kerala government for the second straight term.
Suspense continues about Amethi and Uttar Pradesh including the electoral fate of Priyanka Gandhi vis-a-vis Rae Bareily.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad says: “He (Rahul Gandhi) claims that the entire nation is in Congress' favour then why he is not contesting elections from Amethi?”
“He went to Wayanad because the minorities are in the majority there. Congress' whole politics is dependent on minorities.”
Rahul's victory in Wayanad during the 2019 elections, securing a significant 64.8% of the vote share, played a crucial role in the Congress leader's political narrative, after he lost the Congress bastion Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to Union Minister Smriti Irani.
Rahul Gandhi had lost Amethi but Wayanad in Kerala came as a face-saver in 2019. But this time the Communist Party of India (CPI) has fielded a woman candidate Annie Raja from the constituency making things uncomfortable for Rahul. Ms Annie is wife of senior CPI leader D Raja.
The BJP is yet to announce candidate there.
In fact, Rahul's aging mother Italy-born Sonia Gandhi, a sitting lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh, has contested for Upper House of Parliament (indirect elections through state assemblies) virtually making it clear that she may not contest elections to the Lower House, Lok Sabha.
Rahul himself had lost to BJP's woman candidate Smriti Irani from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress party avoided changing constituency for Rahul as such a move would have given a fodder to the BJP to exploit in the election campaign.
Observers also say while Congress may appear weak to counter PM Narendra Modi; in several states such as Bihar, Bengal and Maharashtra; the respective provincial parties - RJD, Trinamool and NCP (Pawar) and Shiv Sena (Udhav) --- will put on a good fight against the BJP and Modi's seemingly invincible electoral juggernaut.
In Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi of Akhilesh Yadav will put on a good fight.
The Congress bagged a combined vote share of 34.5%, defeating CPI(M) in Wayanad which got 25.6% of the total votes.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been fielded from the Wayanad seat in Kerala for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections yet again.
The party released its first list of 39 candidates for the elections on Friday.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal announced the first list of candidates on Friday, a day after the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) held a meeting.
The first list did not include the party's candidates from Uttar Pradesh and it is yet to be confirmed if Rahul Gandhi will also contest from Amethi, his old turf.
Other prominent Congress leaders who have been named in the first list include Bhupesh Baghel, K Muraleedharan, KC Venugopal and Shashi Tharoor. From Nagaland, state unit president Supongmeren has been fielded.
For Meghalaya, sitting MP Vincent Pala will be trying his luck again from Shillong yet again. From Tura, Congress candidate will be Saleng A Sangma.
Baghel will be Congress nominee from BJP stronghold Rajnandgaon. Tharoor from Thiurvananthapuram and Venugopal from Alappuzha.
Among others Tamradhwaj Sahu from Mahasamund, Jyotsna Mahant from Korba, and Shivkumar Dehariya from Janjgir-Champa seat.
In Karnataka, which has a Congress government, seven candidates were announced. These included HR Algur Raju from Bijapur, Anandaswamy Gaddadevara Ma from Haveri, Geetha Shivarajkumar from Shimoga, M Shreyas Patel from Hassan, SP Muddahanumegowda from Tumkur, Venkataramegowda from Mandya and DK Suresh from Bangalore Rural.
Setback for Congress in tax case, request to pause freezing of accounts rejected
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal on Friday dismissed Congress's plea seeking a stay on the Income Tax department's action on their bank accounts.
Tribunal court rejects Congress's plea to halt tax department's action on their bank accounts
Congress bank accounts were frozen on February 16, later given permission to operate
Congress alleges tax department undemocratically withdrew Rs 65 crore from its accounts
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal on Friday dismissed Congress's plea seeking a stay on the Income Tax department's action on their bank accounts. The Congress then requested a 10-day stay on the order so that the party could approach the High Court. However, the bench declined the request.
The Congress party is embroiled in a contentious income tax case with the IT Department concerning tax claims for the assessment year (AY) 2018-19. Initially, a claim of Rs 103 crores was filed, which was later revised to Rs 105 crores. However, with the inclusion of Rs 30 crores as interest, the claim escalated to Rs 135 crores.
The Congress on Wednesday appealed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) alleging that the tax department "undemocratically" withdrew a sum of Rs 65 crore from its accounts in different banks.
On February 16, the main bank accounts of the Congress were frozen. However, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal later allowed them to operate bank accounts pending further hearings.
The Congress then appealed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal alleging that the tax department "undemocratically" withdrew a sum of Rs 65 crore from its accounts in different banks.
"I am a 100-year-old party filing my returns regularly... To do this on the eve of elections is to make sure I don't participate in the festival of democracy...We are being choked," the advocate, appearing on behalf of the Congress had informed the tribunal court.
In response, the tax department said the party was trying to "create a false narrative that they are being targeted ahead of the general elections."
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