Rita Bahuguna Joshi named Congress candidate from Lucknow

New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh's Congress unit chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi was Tuesday named the party's candidate for the prestigious Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency.

She is the daughter of the late Hemavati Nandan Bahuguna, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

'Rita Bahuguna Joshi will be the Congress candidate from Lucknow,' said Congress spokesman Ashwani Kumar at a press conference at the AICC headquarters here.

The Samajwadi Party, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have already announced their candidates for the Lucknow seat.

With the Congress fielding Rita, the election in the constituency, currently represented by senior BJP leader and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has become quadrangular.

Samajwadi Party general secretary Sanjay Dutt Sunday announced the candidature of actress-turned-social activist Nafisa Ali from Lucknow after the Supreme Court prevented the Bollywood actor from contesting elections.

Nafisa Ali left the Congress and joined the Samajwadi Party to join the fray from Lucknow.

While the BJP fielded senior party leader Lalji Tandon to retain the constituency, the BSP fielded Akhilesh Das Gupta, who joined the party after quitting the Congress.