Polls 2014: Sonia, Rahul, Meira, Nilekani, Kaif in Cong's first list

New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, IT expert Nandan Nilekani, cricketer Mohd Kaif and several union ministers figure in Congress' first list of 194 candidates for Lok Sabha elections released here tonight. Party sources said 35 per cent of the candidates are under the age of 50.

Sonia and Rahul will seek re-election from Rae Bareli and Amethi. The first list includes more than 60 sitting members from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajashtan, Karnataka and some north eastern states.

Among the union ministers figuring in the list are Sushilumar Shinde from Sholapur in Maharastra, Salman Khurshid from Farrukhabad, Sriprakash Jaiswal from Kanpur, Beni Prasad Verma from Gonda, (all in Uttar Prdesh), Kamal Nath from Chhindwara and Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna in Madhya Pradesh, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary from Behrampur (West Bengal), Parneet Kaur from Patiala (Punjab), Girija Vyas from Chittorgarh (Rajasthan), K H Muniyappa from Kolar and Mallikarjun Kharge from Gulbarga, (Karnataka). Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has been renominated from Sasaram and former IPS officer Nikhil Kumar, who resigned as Kerala Governor just two days ago, was fielded from Aurangabad in Bihar, from where Congress has declared candidates for 10 of the 12 seats it got in alliance with Lalu Prasad's RJD.

Mohd Kaif is Congress' candidate from Phulpur, a constituency in Uttar Pradesh once represented by Jawaharlal Nehru, Karuna Shukla is the nominee from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh while justice Hanumanthappa from Bellary in Karnataka.