New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's wife, Ujwala Shinde, will contest from Sholapur Lok Sabha constituency on Congress ticket, the party announced today (Mar 30, 2004).

Ujwala Shinde's name was one among the 61 candidates mentioned in the fifth list of the Congress.

Congress Working Committee (CWC) members Mahavir Prasad and Meira Kumar, Satish Sharma, Narain Singh, the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief, and Pratap Singh Khachariavas, the nephew of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat have been cleared by the Congress to contest the coming Lok Sabha election.

Jogi, whose suspension was revoked by the party, has been directed by the leadership to contest from Mahsamund in Chattisgarh against former Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Vidya Charan Shukla.

Though Jogi's name did not figure in the fifth list of 61 candidates from 11 States released by the party, Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal and Chattisgarh PCC chief Motilal Vora separately announced that the former Chief Minister would be the party's candidate in Mahsamund.

Mahavir Prasad and Meira Kumar are contesting from Bansgaon in Uttar Pradesh and Sasaram (SC) in Bihar respectively. Sasaram was represented by Kumar's father Jagjiwan Ram.

Satish Sharma, who vacated his Rae Bareilly seat for Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, will seek election from neighbouring Sultanpur.

While Narain Singh has been fielded from Sikar, a constituency earlier represented by former Lok Sabha speaker Balram Jakhar, Khachariavas has been asked to contest from the prestigious Jaipur seat.

With the release of the fifth list of 61 candidates, the Congress has so far cleared the candidature of over 255 nominees.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Naresh Yadav (Azamgarh), AICC secretary R P N Singh (Padrauna), Gyanendra Pratap Singh (Kaiserganj), Unmed Singh, husband of slain bandit queen Phoolan Devi (Basti-SC), Nirmal Khatri (Faizabad) and Jaisram Gautam (Akbarpur) are among the prominent candidates from Uttar Pradesh.

Nikhil Kumar, former Delhi police commissioner, will contest from Aurangabad, and Minister in Rabri Devi Government and former PCC chief Shakeel Ahmed (Madhubani) are among the three candidates nominated by the party from Bihar.

Former Union Minister Krip Chaliha has been nominated to contest from Guwahati against BJP candidate singer Bhupen Hazarika.

The other three candidates cleared by the Central Election Committee last night are: Ranee Narah (Lakhimpur), Anwar Hussain (Dubri) and D Mochahary (Kokrajhar-ST).