Congress announces 9 more candidates for Goa polls

The Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced separate lists of candidates for the Goa assembly elections, putting to rest speculation over a grand opposition alliance to fight the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress named nine candidates, TMC 11 and AAP five.

Congress on Tuesday released another list of nine candidates for the ensuing Goa assembly elections. Former Minister, Michael Lobo, who recently quit BJP to join Congress, will contest from Calangute assembly seat. The party's Central Election Committee cleared the name of the candidates.In this list, nine candidates have been named for the February 14 single-phase polls for the 40-member Goa assembly. With this list, Congress has announced candidates for 24 of the 40 seats. The party has fielded former minister Michael Lobo from Calangute. Earlier this month, Michael Lobo along with his wife Delilah Lobo joined the Congress after resigning from the BJP. In the first and the second list, Congress had named eight and seven candidates respectively. So far, the party has declared candidates for 28 out of Goa’s 40 assembly seats. The party has conceded two seats to the Goa Forward Party, with the latter haggling with its ally for a third seat at San André.

Former Army Chief General J J Singh on Tuesday joined the BJP in the presence of Punjab Affairs in-charge and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma at Chandigarh. Akali leader Ajmer Singh and others also joined BJP on this occasion. BJP leaders welcomed Gen J J Singh and others into the party fold. The former army chief had left the Shiromani Akali Dal in 2018. Gen J J Singh, who had also served as the governor of Arunachal Pradesh, was the first Sikh to be appointed as the Army chief in 2005.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has released its first list of 37 candidates for the upcoming elections in Uttarakhand. The party will fight elections on all 70 seats.