Nagaland: Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh among 40-star campaigners for Congress in LS polls

Congress has unveiled its list of star campaigners for the impending Lok Sabha elections in Nagaland. Prominent figures such as Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge are among the 40 leaders who will campaign for the party.

Unlike the 2019 elections, the single Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland is expected to see a triangular contest between candidates from the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), the Congress, and an independent. In the 2019 elections, NDPP candidate Tokheho Yepthomi won the seat, defeating Congress nominee K.L. Chishi by 16,344 votes.

The Congress nominee this time is S. Supongmeren Jamir, with Hayithung Tungoe Lotha contesting as an Independent. The NDPP-led People's Democratic Alliance (PDA) has put forward physician-turned-politician Murry, a debutant in the Parliamentary polls.

Jamir, the state Congress unit's President and a former MLA, is also contesting the parliamentary polls for the first time. Lotha, a social activist, politician and entrepreneur, had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The election for the lone Nagaland Lok Sabha seat will take place in the first phase of the 7-phase polls on April 19, with the counting scheduled for June 4.

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