Congress releases 5th list of candidates
New Delhi: The Congress Monday night released its fifth list of 56 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, including 22 from Andhra Pradesh and 11 from West Bengal.
The list also included eight candidates from Telangana, six from Odisha and five from Assam, besides three remaining seats from Uttar Pradesh.
On Saturday, the Congress had called off alliance talks with the Left parties.
The Congress has fielded former president Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee from Jangipur Lok Sabha seat, former PCC chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Behrampur and former minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi's wife Deepa Dasmunshi from Raiganj.
The party also fielded former Union minister M M Pallam Raju from Kakinada constituency and party's former Rajya Sabha member J D Seelam from Bapatla reserved seat.
The party also fielded its Rajya Sabha member Bhubaneswar Kalita from Mangaldoi in Assam and former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das from Kalahandi in Odisha.
The Congress also fielded its state party chief Uttam Kumar Reddy from Nalgonda in Telangana.
The list was declared after a meeting of the Congress Central Election Committee chaired by party chief Rahul Gandhi earlier in the day.
The Congress has so far announced a total of 137 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
The party separately also issued a list of 36 candidates for Odisha Assembly elections.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
TN polls: TVK pushes DMK behind with leads in 83 seats, AIADMK ahead in 54
Chennai (PTI): New entrant TVK, led by actor-politician Vijay, was leading in as many as 83 constituencies on Monday when counting of votes polled in the April 23 Assembly polls was on across Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK was leading in 58 seats while the ruling DMK was ahead in 34, EC data showed.
About two hours after the postal ballots were counted and EVMs opened for multi-round counting, Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam surged ahead of its Dravidian rivals-- the DMK and the AIADMK, with the ruling party struggling to catch up.
If the trends maintain, Vijay could as well ensure the biggest electoral upset, something in lines with the "1967,1977" wins he had referred to in his campaign speeches.
While the Dravidian stalwart CN Annadurai brought the first non-Congress government in Tamil Nadu post-independence in 1967, the charismatic MG Ramachandran (MGR) installed the maiden AIADMK government 10 years later, unseating then DMK government under M Karunanidhi. TVK was leading in most Chennai segments, all considered DMK strongholds and currently represented by the party in the 234-member House.
A poor show by DMK could belie most exit polls giving an edge to it, riding on the number of populist measures Chief Minister M K Stalin had implemented in his five year "Dravidian model," inclusive governance.
According to EC and TV reports, 15 cabinet ministers, including Stalin were trailing. His son and deputy CM Udhayanidhi was also behind in his incumbent Chepauk-Tirvuvallikeni seat, according to a number of reports.
Stalin was trailing behind TVK's VS Babu by 1234 votes in Kolathur segment. Vijay was ahead in Tiruchirappalli East by over 3,000 votes at the end of two rounds of counting, according to EC data.
BJP is trailing in 26 constituencies and it is ahead in Thali segment alone. TVK is ahead in constituencies including Ponneri, Tiruvallur, Poonamalle, and Avadi.
AIADMK is leading in segments including Katpadi, and Guidyattam and party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami is ahead in Edappadi segment by 7003 votes.
DMK was leading in segments including Vellore, Anaikattu and Rishivandiyam.
