NEW DELHI: Congress will hold a meeting of the party's Central Election Committee on Thursday to decide the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is the chairperson of the committee and its members include former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

"The first meeting of @INCIndia Central Election Committee(CEC) that considers and decides on candidates for Lok Sabha polls is being held at 6 pm on March 7th," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet.

The Congress panel tasked with preparing the party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls has prepared the draft which will now be discussed by the Congress Working Committee. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who heads the manifesto committee, said on Tuesday that the draft report will be presented to the Congress president. "We have prepared the draft manifesto. Now it will go to the Congress Working Committee. They will finalize the manifesto then it will become the Congress party document. Tomorrow we will hand over this draft to the Congress President," he said.

The Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May this year.