Congress is likely to finalise its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections after conclusion of the Parliament session on February 21.        

 The party today began the process in this regard with the first meeting of its Central Election Committee taking place. Party chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party Vice President Rahul Gandhi are among the top leaders who are members of the committee which decides the nominations.        

Party leaders said that the nominations for those seats will be finalised early which are at present not with the Congress. The party had won 206 seats in the last Lok Sabha polls.        

This is being done to avoid any controversy during the session which has a heavy legislative agenda and government is planning to get a number of bills including the one on Telangana passed.        

The issue of tainted leaders is expected to figure in seats like Pune, currently being represented by Suresh Kalmadi, who is facing corruption charges in the organisation of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.