Lok Sabha Polls: Congress Names 6 Candidates For Goa, MP, Dadra & Nagar Haveli

Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) has approved candidates for Goa North, Goa South, Morena, Gwalior, Khandwa, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli (ST) Lok Sabha seats for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Congress on Saturday announced a list of candidates for six Lok Sabha seats in Goa, Madhya Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. As per the list, the main opposition party has announced six candidates; three in Madhya Pradesh, two in Goa, and one for Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

According to the list, the Congress’ Central Election Committee (CEC) has approved candidates for Goa North, Goa South, Morena, Gwalior, Khandwa, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli (ST) Lok Sabha seats for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Here’s the list of six candidates announced by Congress:

Goa

Ramakant Khalap – Goa North
Capt. Viriato Fernandes – Goa South

Madhya Pradesh

Satyapal Singh Sikarwar – Morena
Praveen Pathak – Gwalior
Narendra Patel – Khandwa

D&N Haveli

Ajit Ramjibhai Mahla – Dadra & Nagar Haveli (ST)

The announcement was made by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal ending the INDIA bloc’s prolonged wait for its candidates in Goa. The alliance comprising more than two dozen opposition parties has agreed to field Congress candidates from both the Lok Sabha constituencies in the coastal state.

Ramakant Khalap, 76, was the Union minister of state for law in late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet. During his tenure, Khalap worked for the enactment of the Arbitration Act of India and drafted amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure of India and the Code of Criminal Procedures of India.

He also introduced the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.

Capt. Viriato Fernandes, the Congress’s candidate from South Goa, is an ex-Indian Navy officer.

His profile on X handle states that he was a retired officer of the Indian Navy, a “Kargil War soldier, mechanical engineer, aeronautics engineering specialisation and double MBA”.

Fernandes unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Goa legislative assembly elections from the Dabolim constituency.

The ruling BJP has already announced candidates for North Goa (Shripad Naik) and South Goa (Pallavi Dempo) seats.

The North Goa seat has been a bastion of the ruling BJP since 1999, while South Goa, which has a sizable Christian population has mostly remained with the Congress, but was also won by the BJP and regional parties a few time

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will be held in seven phases over a period of nearly two months from April 19 to June 1, 2024. Votes will be counted on June 4 and results declared on the same day, the Election Commission has announced.

Goa will go to polls in a single phase on May 7.

(With PTI inputs)