Lok Sabha Polls | Raj Babbar gets Fatehpur Sikri, poet Imran Pratapgarghi replaces him in Moradabad

The Congress on Friday released its seventh list of 34 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, shifting party’s Uttar Pradesh chief Raj Babbar to Fatehpur Sikri from Moradabad.

Babbar’s name was announced in the second list of candidates which was released on March 13.

However, according to reports, the UPCC chief was unhappy over being given ticket from Moradabad constituency. The party, therefore, shifted him to Fatehpur Sikri.

Poet Imran Pratapgarghi, known for his controversial couplets and posts against the establishment, will replace Babbar in Moradabad.

Babbar had joined Congress in 2008 after being suspended from the Samajwadi Party. In 2009, he was elected for the fourth term as Member of Parliament by defeating Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav and daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the actor-turned-politician contested from Ghaziabad and lost to General V K Singh. He was then appointed as then as the president of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, where Congress has been in the opposition for the last couple of decades.

Lok Sabha elections will begin on April 11 and polling would be held over seven phases through May 19, followed by counting of all votes on May 23.

In the first phase, 91 constituencies will to go for polls, 97 constituencies in the second phase, 115 constituencies in the third, 71 in fourth phase, 51 in fifth phase, 59 in sixth and 59 in the seventh phase.

With Priyanka Gandhi making her political debut with a prominent position in party in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress yes a comeback in the state which was once its stronghold.

The Congress, however, suffered a setback after the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party announced an alliance in the state, keeping the former out of it.