Congress names candidates for Ahmedabad West, 3 other Lok Sabha seats

The Congress party on Thursday announced candidates for 15 Lok Sabha seats, including four in Gujarat, and 11 in Uttar Pradesh, ahead of the upcoming elections.

The Congress said in a release that its Central Election Committee had selected candidates for four seats in Gujarat for the ensuing parliamentary elections. The party nominated three-term Rajya Sabha MP Raju Parmar as its candidate from Ahmedabad West (SC) seat, presently held by BJP's Dr Kirit Solanki.

On expected lines, former union minister Bharatsinh Solanki was named as the candidate from Anand seat. Solanki had won from the seat in 2004 and 2009, but had lost in 2014 elections. He was president of Gujarat Congress at the time of 2017 assembly elections, but had resigned after the party's loss.

Prashant Patel, president of Vadodara city Congress, was named as the candidate from Vadodara seat. Narendra Modi had won from Vadodara in 2014, while sitting MP Ranjan Bhatt of BJP was elected after Modi vacated it.

Ranjit Rathwa, son of senior Congress leader Mohansinh Rathwa was named candidate from Chhota Udepur (ST) seat. This was also on expected lines as the party had nominated Naran Rathwa, five-term MP from Chhota Udepur, to the Rajya Sabha last year. "These were the seats where there were single contenders in the fray. Candidates from other seats will also be declared soon," said a party leader requesting anonymity.