Cong's poll committee discusses LS candidates for Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan

Rahul Gandhi, who is also a member of the panel, was not present during the meeting.The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates in two lists for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning on April 19.

The Congress' Central Election Committee met here on Wednesday to finalise Lok Sabha poll candidates for the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Sources said the party's third list would be out ''very soon''. It could be released as early as Thursday, they added.

The sources said the panel headed by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge finalised 12 candidates for Maharashtra and seven each for Gujarat and Rajasthan.

After the meeting, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said, ''We have discussed at least 18-19 seats of Maharashtra, we have finalised at least 12 seats and tomorrow morning, we have a meeting with Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray.'' ''Final discussions will be held and all seats will be announced by tomorrow or the day after,'' he added.

The Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) had also met on Tuesday to finalise candidates for the Lok Sabha elections and deliberated upon the seats it could contest in West Bengal in view of a tie-up with the Left parties.

The meeting of the CEC was attended by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and other members of the panel. Rahul Gandhi, who is also a member of the panel, was not present during the meeting.

The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates in two lists for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning on April 19.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)