Congress's second list: Bansal, Raj Babbar, Nagma make it

The Congress released its second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha election today and a notable inclusion was that of former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal for the seat of Chandigarh, despite him having resigned from the ministerial post due to a bribery scandal involving his nephew. There had been speculation that Bansal could be dropped from the Congress list on account of his nephew being the prime accused in a bribery scandal involving a Railway Board member. Bansal is presently the MP from Chandigarh and despite resigning as railways minister, had been exonerated after investigations by the CBI. The MP was expectedly happy with the decision. [caption id=“attachment_1433279” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bansal thanked the party high command for their faith. PTI[/caption] “I am thankful for the faith that the party’s high command has placed in me,” Bansal said. He said that there was a conspiracy against him and despite eight months of investigations into the scandal he had been exonerated. The former minister said that he was the victim of a conspiracy against him and he was confident he would enjoy the support of the electorate again. Bansal said he had been working in Chandigarh for the last 10 months and knew the sentiment of the voters. Even Subodh Kant Sahay, who had resigned as Minister of State over his alleged involvement in the coal block allocation scandal, will contest from the Ranchi seat. The Congress’s list of candidates also included former Uttar Pradesh unit chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi who will contest from Lucknow and Shashi Tharoor who will contest again for the seat of Thiruvanathapuram. KV Thomas will remain as the party’s candidate from the Ernakulam seat in Kerala. Actors Raj Babbar and Nagma will also be contesting from the Ghaziabad and Meerut seats respectively. Here’s the complete list of candidates: