Chandigarh, April 22

The Haryana unit of the Congress on Monday said a fake list of party candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats from the state was circulating on social media and termed it as a mischievous attempt to tarnish the party's image.

Haryana Congress president Udai Bhan said that the start of the nomination process is still a week away and the names of candidates will be announced before that.

"A list is being circulated over social media. It is a fake list," he said.

The Congress will seek information and get it probed who wants to tarnish the image of the party, he said.

The Congress will be contesting nine seats in Haryana, while its ally Aam Aadmi Party has already announced its state unit chief Sushil Gupta's candidature from Kurukshetra.

Among other parties, the BJP had declared its candidates for all 10 seats last month.

Over the past several days, Congress' rivals have targeted it over alleged delay in the announcement of candidates, saying it was running away from the contest.

Speaking to reporters in Karnal recently, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had said the opposition party is holding meetings after meetings but is unable to firm up candidates in Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls.

Some other leaders of the Congress' rival parties have claimed there is infighting in the party's state unit which is delaying the announcement of candidates.