CHENNAI: The Congress national high command has less than 12 hours to announce its candidates for the two remaining Lok Sabha seats, Mayiladuthurai and Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu.

Chief Minister M K Stalin, who leads the INDIA bloc in the state, is scheduled to muster public support in Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli, both Congress seats, on Monday.

However, the Congress national high command belied the hopes of the alliance in Tamil Nadu after Tirunelveli and Mayiladuthurai did not feature in the fifth candidates list released by the party around 8pm Sunday.

Even the alliance leader was unimpressed with the national party not announcing its candidates for a constituency the Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin would be visiting less than a day later.

Leaders in Tamil Nadu Congress exuded confidence that the candidates would be announced anytime before Monday morning.

Heavy demand for the two LS tickets is attributed to the delay.

While Robert Bruce, former MP Rama Subbu and state minorities wing head Peter Alphonse are said to be among the contenders for Tirunelveli, sitting MP Su Thirunavukkarasar, columnist Praveen Chakravarthy, Mira Hussain, Haseena Syed and daughter of former MP Mani Shankar Aiyer are in the race for Mayiladuthurai.