Chidambaram out of Lok Sabha race, son gets Congress ticket

NEW DEHLI: Union Minister P Chidambaram has opted out of the Lok Sabha election with the party tonight nominating his son Karti from his constituency Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu while another Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was brought as a candidate from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.

Soon after the announcement, Karti said, "my father has contested nine elections and thought it is time to give way. He is definitely not retiring from politics."

The name of Azad and Karti figure in the list of 50 Congress Lok Sabha candidates announced today, which also brought an end to speculation over remaining two Lok Sabha seats of Delhi West Delhi and South Delhi with the party re-nominating sitting MPs Mahabal Mishra and Ramesh Kumar.

Congress had already nominated sitting MPs in five other seats of Delhi. With the announcement today, all seven sitting MPs of Congress stand re-nominated.

AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh's brother Laxman Singh has been fielded from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh from where leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj is the sitting BJP MP. Singh's son-in-law Paranjayaditya Singh Parmar, whose name figured as a candiate from Panchamahal seat in Gujarat in the second list has been dropped. Ramsingh Parmar is the new candidate from the seat.

Former Union ministers Mani Shankar Aiyar has been nominated from his traditional seat of Mayiladuthurai and R Prabhu from Coimbatore.