Priyanka Vadra Rumour Bust, Ajay Rai Is Congress’ Varanasi Pick Against PM Modi

Congress Releases 4th List of Candidates: With the biggest poll battle of the year – Lok Sabha Elections 2024 – just around the corner, the Congress on Saturday released its fourth list of of 46 candidates for LS, putting to rest all the unsubstantiated claims of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra fighting the upcoming general elections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency.

Lifting the suspense over its probable candidate in Varanasi, the Congress has announced that it is fielding party stalwart Ajay Rai to take on the challenge against PM Modi in upcoming elections.

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, Karti P Chidambaram are among other party stalwarts whose names figure in the fourth list of candidates.

The fourth list of names of Congress candidates on 46 seats for Lok Sabha elections, 2024 was finalised during the meeting of 'Central Election Committee (CEC)' held under the chairmanship of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. 

From BJP MLA to Contesting Against PM Modi, Know Who is Ajay Rai?

Congress leader Ajay Rai, who started his career with BJP's student wing ABVP, had contested the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly elections from the Kolasla Assembly constituency from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and got elected as the MLA three times in a row from the seat between 1996 and 2007.

In 2009, he left the party and joined the Samajwadi Party after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. He unsuccessfully contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, following which he again won the 2009 Legislative Assembly by-election from the Kolasla constituency as an independent.

He later joined the Congress in 2012 and won the 2012 Assembly elections from the newly created Pindra constituency after delimitation.

Ajay Rai was the Congress candidate for the Varanasi parliament seat in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, who lost to Prime Minister Modi.

Congress's 4th List of Candidates: PM Modi Vs Ajay Rai in Varanasi

In the fourth list of candidates, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh has been fielded from the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency, while Karti P Chidambaram has been fielded from Sivaganga, 

1. Uday Shankar Hazarika from Lakhimpur (Assam)
2. Kuldeep Rai Sharma from A&N Islands (A&N Islands)
3. Kawasi Lakhma from Bastar-ST (Chhattisgarh)
4. Chaudhary Lal Singh from Udhampur (J&K)
5. Raman Bhalla from Jammu (J&K)
6. Guddu Raja Bundela from Sagar (Madhya Pradesh)
7. Nilam Mishra from Rewa (Madhya Pradesh)
8. Phundelal Singh Marko from Shahdol-ST (Madhya Pradesh)
9. Dinesh Yadav from Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh)
10. Samrat Saraswat from Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh)
11. Sanjay Sharma from Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh)
12. Arun Shrivastav from Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)
13. Digvijaya Singh from Rajghar (Madhya Pradesh)
14. Mahesh Parmar from Ujjain-SC (Madhya Pradesh)
15. Dilip Singh Gurjar from Mandsaur (Madhya Pradesh)
16. Kantilal Bhuria from Ratlam-ST (Madhya Pradesh)
17. Akshay Bam from Indore (Madhya Pradesh)
18. Rashmi Shyamkumar Barve from Ramtek-SC (Maharashtra)
19. Vikas Thakare from Nagpur (Maharashtra)
20. Dr Prashant Yadavrao Padole from Bhandara-Gondiya (Maharashtra)
21. Dr Namdev Dasaram Kirsan from Gadchiroli-Chimur-ST (Maharashtra)
22. Angomcha Bimol Akoijam from Inner Manipur (Manipur)
23. Alfred Kanngam S Arthur from Outer Manipur-ST (Manipur)
24. Lalbiakzama from Mizoram-ST (Mizoram)
25. Anil Chopra from Jaipur Rural (Rajasthan)
26. Bhajan Lal Jatav from Karauli-Dholpur-SC (Rajasthan)
27. RLP Candidate from Nagaur (Rajasthan)
28. Sasikanth Senthil from Tiruvallur-SC (Tamil Nadu)
29. K Gopinath from Krishnagiri (Tamil Nadu)
30. S Jothimani from Karur (Tamil Nadu)
31. Dr MK Vishnu Prasad from Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu)
32. A Karti P Chidambaram from Sivaganga (Tamil Nadu)
33. B Manickam Tagore from Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu)
34. Vijay Vasanth from Kanniyakumari (Tamil Nadu)
35. Imran Masood from Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh)
36. Danish Ali from Amroha (Uttar Pradesh)
37. Ram Nath Sikarwar from Fatehpur Sikri (Uttar Pradesh)
38. Alok Mishra from Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh)
39. Pradeep Jain Aditya from Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh)
40. Tanuj Punia from Barabanki-SC (Uttar Pradesh)
41. Akhilesh Pratap Singh from Deoria (Uttar Pradesh)
42. Sadan Prasad from Bansgaon-SC (Uttar Pradesh)
43. Ajay Rai from Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)
44. Prakash Joshi from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand)
45. Virender Rawat from Haridwar (Uttarakhand)
46. Piya Roy Chowdhury from Coochbehar-SC (West Bengal)