Nilekani, Kaif in Congress' 1st list of candidates

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, IT expert Nandan Nilekani and cricketer Mohd Kaif are among 194 candidates as Congress tonight released the first list of its nominees for Lok Sabha polls that contains several new and young faces.

Party sources said 35 per cent of the candidates are under the age of 50.

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are candididates from the pocketboroughs of Rae Bareli and Amethi.

Bhojpuri films star Ravi Kishen, Oriya actors Aparajita Mohanty and Bijay Mohanty are being fielded by Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.

The nominees also include cricketer Mohammed Kaif, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla and Justice Hanumanthappa.

While Aadhar chief Nilekani is being fielded from Bangalore South, Ravi Kishen is the nominee from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Aparajita Mohanty is the candidate from Cuttack while Bijay from Bhubeneshwar. Kaif is the 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.

The Central Election Committee of the party, headed by Sonia Gandhi, has finalised the list which included several sitting members including union ministers.