Congress to release second list of 100 candidates for UP elections

The Congress will release its second list of around 100 candidates by the end of this month for the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

"The party has almost finalised a list of close to 100 candidates and it is likely to be released by the end of this month," PCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters on Friday.

She said the decision on some of the seats have been left to party president Sonia Gandhi. The state has 403 Assembly seats.

The Congress, which is trying to regain its lost political ground in the state had released its first list of 73 candidates last month. The list included Union Minister Salman Khurshid's wife Louis Khurshid, the PCC chief and CLP leader Pramod Tiwari.

In order to take on ruling BSP, the Congress had struck a balance between candidates based on region and caste. It has issued 21 party tickets to Dalits, 15 to backward classes, 12 for Brahmins, nine to Rajputs and eight to Muslims.

Earlier, Joshi welcomed senior leader and former MLA Surendra Nath alias Puttu Awasthi, who quit BSP and rejoined the Congress.