Lok Sabha polls: Congress releases first list of 39 candidates, Rahul Gandhi to contest from Wayanad

New Delhi: Congress on Friday released its first list of candidates for 39 Lok Sabha constituencies.

The names have been announced for Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshwadeep, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Telangana and Tripura.

Of the total 39 candidates announced, 16 are from Kerala, seven from Karnataka and six from Chhattisgarh, four from Telangana. Two from

Meghalaya and one each from Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim and Lakshwadeep.

Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal informed that senior party leader Rahul Gandhi will again contest from the Wayanad constituency, the seat won by him in 2019.

The list of 39 candidates was released after the party held its Central Election Committee meeting on Thursday.

A total of six seats were announced from Chhattisgarh, Shivkumar Dahariya has been fielded from Jangir-Champa, Jyotsana Mahant will contest from Korba, Bhupesh Baghel has been fielded from Rajnandgaon, Rajendra Sahu from Durg, Vikas Upadhay from Raipur, Tamradhwaj Sahu from Mahasamund.

Also, Congress announced names for seven seats in Karnataka, including DK Suresh contesting from Bengaluru Rural.

In Karnataka, Anandaswamy Gaddadevara Mat will contest from Haveri, Geetha Shivarajkumar has been fielded from Shimoga, Shreyal Patel from Hassan, SP Muddahanumegowda from Tumkur and Vekanataramegowda (Star Chandru) from Mandya.

A total of 16 candidates have been announced from Kerala, including Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram.

Addressing the press conference, KC Venugopal said," Out of these 39 candidates, 15 are from General category and 24 are from SC, ST, OBC, and minorities."

Congress party's second Election Committee meeting will be held on March 11 in Delhi to discuss the candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, the BJP has already released its first list of 195 candidates.

The Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May this year.