Cong releases fifth list for Jharkhand polls, 29 candidates named so far

The Congress on Sunday released its fifth list of three candidates for the upcoming assembly polls in Jharkhand, taking the total number of nominees declared so far by the party to 29.

This comes a day after the party fielded its national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh, who recently became popular on social media after a showdown with BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra at a TV debate, to take on Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das in the elections.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi approved the candidature of Sona Ram Sinku from Jaganathpur (ST), Suresh Baitha in place of Rajiv Kumar from Kanke (SC) and Sunny Toppo from Mandar.

Jharkhand will vote in five phases, with the first on November 30 and the last on December 20. Results will be declared on December 23.

The Jarkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal had recently announced a pre-poll tie-up for the state with former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren as the alliance's CM face.

The Congress will contest 31 seats out of 81 seats in the Jharkhand assembly. The RJD will contest on seven seats, while the largest chunk of the alliance share has gone to the JMM, which will contest elections on 43 seats.