Rahul to contest from Wayanad again, Congress names 39 candidates in 1st list

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been fielded from the Wayanad seat in Kerala for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party released its first list of 39 candidates for the elections on Friday.Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal announced the first list of candidates on Friday, a day after the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) held a meeting.Other prominent Congress leaders who have been named in the first list include Bhupesh Baghel, K Muraleedharan, KC Venugopal and Shashi Tharoor.From Chhattisgarh, the Congress fielded former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon, Tamradhwaj Sahu from Mahasamund, Jyotsna Mahant from Korba, and Shivkumar Dehariya from Janjgir-Champa seat.In Karnataka, which has a Congress government, seven candidates were announced. These included HR Algur Raju from Bijapur, Anandaswamy Gaddadevara Ma from Haveri, Geetha Shivarajkumar from Shimoga, M Shreyas Patel from Hassan, SP Muddahanumegowda from Tumkur, Venkataramegowda from Mandya and DK Suresh from Bangalore Rural.Congress fielded K Muraleedharan from Kerala’s Thrissur, KC Venugopal from Alappuzha and Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram.