Candidate who lost to PM Modi twice, renominated by Congress in Varanasi

Ajay Rai started his political journey with the student wing of the BJP (File Photo)

New Delhi:

The Congress party has named its Awami League chief Ajay Rai as its candidate from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency in its fourth list for the upcoming elections. Of the 17 candidates on the list, nine are from UP.

This is Rai’s third direct contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the general election after 2014 and 2019. He lost both times to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a historic third term and has given the Bharatiya Janata Party a massive one-party mandate.

Incidentally, Mr Rai is a local strongman who started his political journey from the student wing of the PPP and won three parliamentary terms from the PPP between 1996 and 2007. However, in 2009, when he was denied a Lok Sabha ticket by the BJP, he switched over to the BJP. Samajwadi Party but failed in the elections. Three years later, he joined Congress.

Besides Mr Rai, the Congress has also fielded its latest member – KunwarDanish Ali from Amroha in UP.

Ramnath Sikarwar to face BJP’s Raj Kumar Chahar in Fatehpur Sikri, joins Samaj Imran Masood, who has returned to the Congress after the Wadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, will contest from Saharanpur, while Dalit leader Punia’s son Tanuj will contest from Balabanki is contesting, and the party is currently represented in Parliament by Upendra Singh Rawat of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Former deputy minister Pradeep Jain Aditya has been named as the candidate from Jhansi, while Alok Mishra is from Kanpur.