BHOPAL: The Congress released the first list of 144 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday -- the first day of Navratri festival. Maintaining the caste balance, it released the first list with numerical belief.

As per the state Congress office, the central leadership of the Congress released the list at sharp 9 a.m. and the number of candidates announced was 144. The numerical addition of 144 (1+4+4= 9). The Congress has retained as many as 64 MLAs in the first list of total 144 candidates.

As the party has already announced that the caste census would be one of its key agendas for the election, it has fielded 39 candidates from the Other Backward Class (OBC) and 52 candidates for the seats reserved for the Scheduled Caste (22) and Scheduled Tribe (30).

The Congress has fielded 47 candidates from the general category, including Brahmin (18) and Kshatriya (18). It has fielded 19 women candidates including six from the minority community, while, average age group of its 144 candidates is said to be 50 years.

Among the 64 MLAs retained by the Congress in the first list, at least nine candidates are those who have come from the ruling BJP and also some those who have made ‘ghar wapasi’. They are -- Kapidhwaj Singh (Gudh), Rashmi Singh Patel (Nagoud), Bodh Singh Bhagat (Katangi), Neeraj Sharma (Surkhi), Avadhesh Nayak (Datia), Saheb Singh Gurjar (Gwalior Rural), Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav (Mungawali), Baijnath Yadav (Kolaras), Anubhav Munjare (Balaghat).