New Delhi:

With less than a month to go before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Saturday announced its fourth list of 46 candidates. Some of the big names on the list include former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Digvijaya Singh, Karti Chidambaram and Danish Ali, who joined the party on Wednesday. But the party is also noteworthy for its omissions.

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai will contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi for the third consecutive time. However, despite nominating a candidate from Uttar Pradesh for the first time, the party remains in suspense over the all-important Amethi and Rai Bareilly seats.

These two constituencies have been Congress bastions, barring Rahul Gandhi’s shock defeat of Smriti Irani of the BJP from Amethi in 2019. While Mr Gandhi is likely to contest from Amethi again, all eyes are on the Rai Bareilly seat, barring Wayanad in Kerala, from where his sister and Congress general secretary P Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is expected to make her political debut.