New Delhi, May 1 (IANS): Congress party is all set to end suspense over the name of its candidates for Amethi and Raebareli Lok Sabha constituencies, both of which have been pocket boroughs of the Gandhi family for long.

Congress communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said that the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) has empowered Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to announce the names of candidates, as soon as possible.

He further told the scribes that the party president is likely to announce the names of candidates in the next 24 hours.

Notably, the party has remained tight-lipped until now, over who would represent the two family bastions -- Amethi and Raebareli. Robert Vadra’s name also surfaced as the likely party candidate from Amethi, some days ago.

The party seems to have made up its mind for the two prestigious seats at a time, when the nomination deadline is getting closer. The last date of filing nominations for these two seats is May 3.

Meanwhile, there have been wide speculations about the announcement of Congress candidates for two prestigious seats.

Rahul Gandhi, who represented the Amethi Lok Sabha seat till 2019, is likely to be fielded from here again, say reports. The party was reportedly in a dilemma over Rahul’s repeated candidature from Amethi, in the wake of a shock defeat in the 2019 elections. Currently, Rahul is in the poll fray from Kerala’s Wayanad seat.

Raebareli is also shrouded in suspense after Sonia Gandhi’s retirement from active politics. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is widely tipped to be the Congress candidate for this seat as the party believes this will enthuse and energise the voters.

Congress party is in alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh. The grand old party is contesting 17 out of 80 seats while the rest 63 are with INDIA bloc ally SP and other regional outfits.

Amethi and Rae Bareli are set to vote in the fifth phase on May 20.