Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Kerala's Wayanad, while seniors leaders like KC Venugopal, Shashi Tharoor, and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel also were drafted on the first list of candidates released by the party on Friday.

The Congress released a 39-member list of candidates that it will field in the Lok Sabha general elections to be held later this year. The 39 candidates who were named were from Chhattisgarh (6), Karnataka (7), Kerala (16), Lakshadweep (1), Meghalaya (2), Nagaland (1), Sikkim (1), Telangana (4), and Tripura (1).

Addressing a presser today, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal announced the first list of candidates.

According to the list, senior leader KC Venugopal, who chose to not contest the elections last time, will be fielded from Kerala's Alappuzha, while Shashi Tharoor will retain his Thiruvananthapuram seat from where he has been a three-time MP in the lower house.

Meanwhile, former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel will be fielded by the Congress from the state's Rajnandgaon seat, the first list mentioned.

The full list of candidates: