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

The Congress party on Friday released its first list of 39 candidates for Lok Sabha elections 2024, due in few weeks. The party announced names of candidates after its brainstorming session during the Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting, held on Thursday evening at its headqaurters in Delhi. The meeting was attended by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, partriarch Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary KC Venugopal among others.

Talking about big names, the party has fielded Rahul Gandhi from Kerala's Wayanad once again. Shashi Tharoor will contest from Thiruvananthapuram, KC Venugopal from Kerala's Alappuzha, Ex-Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon, DK Suresh, brother of Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, has been fielded from Bengaluru Gramin (Rural). 

The party has named six candidates from Chhattisgarh, including former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon, and Tamrdhwaj Sahu from Mahasamund, seven from Karnataka, and 16 from Kerala.

Congress General Secretary



(Organisation), KC Venugopal, who is currently a Rajya Sabha member, will return to the Lok Sabha poll fray from Kerala's Alappuzha - the only seat that the Congress-led UDF had lost in Kerala in 2019.

The list, announced by Venugopal at the party office, 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.

Lok Sabha elections are due to be held in few weeks, however, the polling schedule is yet to be announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

On Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its first list of 195 candidates for Lok Sabha polls