NEW DELHI: The All India Congress Committee (AICC), the highest decision-making body of the Congress party, released the first list of 39 candidates across eight states and one Union Territory for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Friday. As anticipated by many, senior leader and former party president Rahul Gandhi will be contesting from Kerala’s Wayanad for the second time.

On Friday, AICC released the first list of candidates for 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in the states of Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Lakshadweep, Tripura, Nagaland, and Sikkim.

The Congress has fielded 16 candidates in Kerala. Party general secretary K.C. Venugopal has been fielded from Alappuzha, and sitting MP Shashi Tharoor will contest from Thiruvananthapuram for the fourth consecutive time. The ex-Union minister has been winning the Thiruvananthapuram seat since 2009. The Congress has also fielded Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Sudhakaran from Kannur, while AICC general secretary (organization) K.C. Venugopal said he would contest the parliamentary elections from Alappuzha, his home turf for many years.

The other candidates declared were 7 in Karnataka, 6 in Chhattisgarh, 4 in Telangana, 2 in Meghalaya, and 1 each in Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, and Lakshadweep. The list features 15 candidates from the General Category and 24 Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and OBC candidates. Altogether, the Congress Election Committee met on Thursday to clear the names of 60 candidates from 10 states, including Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Delhi, and Chhattisgarh.