BJP releases bypoll candidate list; Navya Haridas fielded against Priyanka Gandhi from Wayanad

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released a list of candidates for the bypolls across several states.

The party has fielded Navya Haridas against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of Congress from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in kerala.

The Congress party had approved Priyanka's candidature on October 15, after bypoll schedule was announced by the Election Commission of India.

The saffron party also named 24 candidates for assembly polls across eight states.

Former MP Sunil Soni will contest from the Raipur City South assembly seat in Chhattisgarh.

Besides the central state, the BJP named its nominees for the assembly bypolls being held in Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal.

Congress General Secretary and United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Priyanka Gandhi will file her nomination papers on October 23 for the upcoming parliamentary bypolls in Wayanad, said a report by news agency ANI citing sources.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi will accompany Priyanka on the day, said the report.

Priyanka and Rahul will hold a roadshow ahead of the nomination filing, it added.

In the run-up to the bypolls, the Congress has appointed Saral Patel as media coordinator for Wayanad with immediate effect, an AICC release said on Saturday.

Wayanad will go to the polls on November 13 along with voting for bye-elections in 47 assembly seats across 15 states.

The first phase of assembly polls in Jharkhand will also be held on November 13.

Wayanad seat was vacated by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he was also elected to the Lok Sabha from Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh in the general elections held earlier this year.

After Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced in June this year that Priyanka Gandhi will contest from Wayanad, she had said her decades-old association with Amethi and Raebareli will continue.

"I am very happy to be able to represent Wayanad and I will not let them feel his (Rahul Gandhi's) absence. I will work hard and I will try my best to make everyone happy and be a good representative. I have a very old relationship with Raebareli and Amethi and it cannot be broken. I will also help my brother in Rae Bareli. We will both be present in Rae Bareli and Wayanad," Priyanka Gandhi had said in presence of Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.