Modi vs. Mystery Candidate: Congress Eyes Upset in Varanasi

In a major development ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party has announced that it will field a candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his home constituency of Varanasi.

The party’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge, Avinash Pande, made the announcement on Wednesday, saying that the Congress will contest on 17 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The remaining 63 seats will have candidates of the INDIA Alliance, which includes the Samajwadi Party (SP) and other parties.

Congress yet to announce candidate for Varanasi seat, rumours doing rounds that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the party’s general secretary in charge of the eastern states may contest against him, the party will deliberate on the potential candidates before announcing the name for this prestigious seat. 

In addition to Varanasi, Amethi, and Raebareli, the grand old party will be fielding candidates in the following constituencies: Basgaon, Jhansi, Bulandshahr,Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Mathura, Sitapur, Barabanki, Kanpur City, Fatehpur Sekri, Maharajganj, Amroha, Ghaziabad, and Deoria.