Congress fields Rahul from Wayanad again; Baghel, Tharoor and Venugopal also in first LS list (Lead)

New Delhi, March 8 : The Congress on Friday released its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, naming 39 nominees from nine states, including senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, who will contest from Keralas Wayanad again.

The party has named six candidates from Chhattisgarh, including former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon, and Tamrdhwaj Sahu from Mahasamund, seven from Karnataka, including sitting MP D.

K.Suresh - the brother of Deputy Chief Minister D.K.Shivakumar - from Bangalore Rural, and 16 from Kerala, including Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram.

Congress General Secretary (Organisation), K.C.Venugopal, who is currently a Rajya Sabha member, will return to the LS poll fray from Keralas Alappuzha - the only seat that the Congress-led UDF had lost in Kerala in 2019.

The list, announced by Venugopal at the party office here, also includes two candidates from Meghalaya, including sitting Shillong MP Vincent Pala, as well as for the sole seats in Nagaland, Sikkim, and Lakshwadeep, four from Telangana, and one from Tripura.

There are 15 candidates from the general category, while 24 are from Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, Other Backward Class, and minorities.Twelve of the candidates are under 50 years of age, eight are aged between 50 and 60, and 12 are aged between 71 and 76.

The candidates were named a day after the meeting of the partys Central Election Committee held here on Thursday evening.

vd/arm