Congress fields Rita Bahuguna from Lucknow

The Congress leadership has decided to field its Uttar Pradesh state unit chief Rita Bahuguna from the prestigious Lucknow parliamentary seat.

The announcement was made after the Samajwadi Party decided to field social worker Nafisa Ali from Lucknow.

Several political bigwigs are contesting from Lucknow, including Bahujan Samaj Party's Akhilesh Das and Bhartiya Janata Party's veteran leader Lalji Tandon.

Bahuguna hails from Allahabad and she is the daughter of former UP chief minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, who was immensely popular among Muslims.

"We are thrilled at the announcement and we are confident that she will be victorious from here," claimed UP Congress spokesperson Subodh Srivastava.

Incidentally, the SP is planning to woo the Muslim voter base by fielding Nafisa, and the Sikh voter base by informing the voters that Nafisa's husband, a retired army officer, is a Sikh.