Rahul to contest from Wayanad: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday released its first list of 49 candidates for Lok Sabha elections. The party again declared the candidature of Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad. Shashi Tharoor will fight from Thiruvananthapuram, a seat he has held for three terms, while former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will make his Lok Sabha electoral debut from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh.

Some of the other big names on the list are Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, who will contest from Alapuzzha in Kerala — a seat he had won in 2009 — and D.K. Suresh, brother of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who has been fielded from Bengaluru Rural.

Seven names have been announced from Karnataka, six from Chhattisgarh and four from Telangana. The remaining are from Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Lakshadweep.

Out of the 39 candidates, 15 are from the general caste and 24 are from SC/ST/minorities. As the first list was announced, the Congress said senior leadership put much thought behind the judicious mix.

The names were finalised after the first meeting of the central election committee that took place on Thursday under the leadership of president Mallikarjun Kharge. Rahul Gandhi attended the meeting through a Zoom call.

As the suspense over whether Rahul Gandhi will contest a second seat and whether that will be Uttar Pradesh's Amethi is not yet over, the party said the remaining states will be taken up for discussion in the next meetings.

On Delhi seats for which names have not been finalised, K.C. Venugopal said the party is only looking for the best of the candidates and there is no conflict. The tickets are being given only on the basis of winnability, Venugopal added. The next meeting of the CEC is expected to be held on Monday March 11