LS Polls 2024: Congress drops Supriya Shrinate from UP's Maharajganj amid Kangana Ranaut row

The grand old Congress party on Wednesday night released its eighth list of candidates. As per its recent list of candidates, the Congress has dropped Supriya Shrinate from Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj amid the raging row over her controversial comments on Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut.

In her place, the grand old party has fielded Virendra Chaudhary from the seat. Shrinate's comments came after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced Ranaut's candidature from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh for the upcoming general elections. 

Supriya Shrinate vs Kangana Ranaut

Earlier this week, Supriya Shrinate courted controversy with an offensive post on Kangana Ranaut accompanied by a derogatory caption. After the post went viral, Shrinate clarified that the post was by someone who had access to her Facebook and Instagram accounts. 

“Someone who had access to my meta accounts ( FB and Insta) posted an absolutely disgusting and objectionable post, which has been taken down. Anyone who knows me will know I would never say that for a woman. However, a parody account that I have just discovered misusing my name is being run on Twitter ( @Supriyaparody ) which started the whole mischief, and is being reported,” Supriya Shrinate said.

Kangana Ranaut responds to derogatory Instagram post

Kangana Ranaut responded to Shrinate's post with alacrity. Ranaut urged people to "refrain from using sex workers' challenging lives or circumstances as some kind of abuse or slur", while adding "every woman deserves her dignity". Ranaut said that she has played characters with several hues in more than two decades of her career as an actor.

“Dear Supriya ji, In the last 20 years of my career as an artist I have played all kinds of women. From a naive girl in Queen to a seductive spy in Dhaakad, from a goddess in Manikarnika to a demon in Chandramukhi, from a prostitute in Rajjo to a revolutionary leader in Thalaivii,” Ranaut said.

“We must free our daughters from the shackles of prejudices, we must rise above the curiosity about their body parts and above all we must refrain from using sex workers challenging lives or circumstances as some kind of abuse or slur... every woman deserves her dignity...,” she added.

Amit Malviya asks Kharge to sack Shrinate

BJP leader Amit Malviya asked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to sack Supriya Shrinate immediately. 

"Congress' Supriya Shrinate makes an obnoxious comment on Kangana Ranaut in an Insta post. It is so disgusting that one can't help but ask -- how does Congress collect so much filth in one place? If Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has any say in the party, he must sack her immediately or else resign," Malviya said. 

EC notice to Supriya Shrinate

On Wednesday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) issued a show cause notice to the Congress leader for her remarks against Ranaut. The notice came after the National Commission for Women (NCW) wrote to poll watchdog, asking it to take strict action against Shrinate. 

Lok Sabha polls: Congress candidates in the 8th list

The grand old party on Wednesday announced its candidates from 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. So far, the Congress has announced a total of 208 candidates for the upcoming general elections. 

Uttar Pradesh

• Maharajganj: Virendra Chaudhary
• Ghaziabad: Dolly Sharma
• Bulandshah (SC): Shivram Valmiki
• Sitapur: Nakul Dubey

Jharkhand

• Khunti (ST): Kalicharan Munda
• Lohardaga (ST): Sukhdeo Bhagat
• Hazaribagh: Jai Prakashbhai Patel

Madhya Pradesh

• Guna: Rao Yadvendra Singh
• Damoh: Tarvar Singh Lodhi
• Vidisha: Pratap Bhanu Sharma

Telangana

• Adilabad (ST): Dr Suguna Kumari Chelimala
• Nizamabad: Tatiparthi Jeevan Reddy
• Medak: Neelam Madhu
• Bhongir: Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy

What happened in 2019 Lok Sabha polls?

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Supriya Shrinate contested from Maharajganj but lost to BJP's Pankaj Chaudhary. As per reports, Supriya Shrinate could not garner the required vote share, leading to her deposit getting forfeited.

Shrinate garnered 72,516 votes and a vote share of 5.91 per cent. Pankaj Choudhary, on the other hand, won by a record 7,26,349 votes and commanded a vote share of 59.2 per cent.