Aizawl: The Congress today officially announced the names of the candidates for the December two election to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly.

The AICC secretary (North East) Maj Ved Prakash announced the names of the Congress candidates for 38 seats and said the candidates for the two remaining seats would be announced shortly.

Congress candidates included 10 new faces, who had never contested the assembly polls before and one woman.

All the nine sitting legislators were included and the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP) legislator Andrew Lalherliana who resigned as MLA and joined the Congress was also amongst the nominees.

Former Chief Minister and MPCC chief Lal Thanhawla would contest from his Serchhip seat, which had elected him five times.

Former ministers like S Hiato, Nirupam Chakma and P C Zoramsangliana were included in the candidate list while no leaders belonging to the erstwhile breakaway group of the Congress - the Mizoram Congress Party (MCP) led by former Finance minister and veteran Congress leader John Lalsangzuala were included in the list.

With the announcement of nominees by the Congress party, all the major political parties had announced candidates for the coming state assembly polls as the UDA and the MNF had earlier announced candidates.
Source : PTI