New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS): Family members of the three senior Congress leaders who were killed in an ambush by Maoists May 25 figured in the first list of 17 candidates announced for the Chhattisgarh assembly elections, a statement said Friday.

Chhattisgarh will see polling for the 90-member state assembly Nov 11 and 19, and the results of the polls will be announced Dec 8.

According to a release issued by the Congress here, Umesh Patel, son of then state party unit chief Nand Kumar Patel, Devti Karma, wife of Mahendra Karma, former leader of opposition in the state, and Alka Mudaliyar, wife of former MLA Uday Muadliyar, have been given tickets for the assembly poll.

Umesh Patel, whose brother Dinesh was also killed in the ambush, will fight from Kharsia seat.

Devti Karma will contest the Dantewada reserved seat.

Significantly, Alka Mudaliyar has been pitched against Chief Minister Raman Singh in Rajnandgaon.

Kawasi Lakhma, the lone Congress MLA from the tribal Bastar region, has been again given ticket from the Konta reserved seat.

On May 25, in one of the biggest attacks in the history of Maoist insurgency, the rebels wiped out the entire frontline of the Congress leadership in the state.

The party convoy was returning from a "Parivartan Yatra" at Darbha Ghaati when it was attacked by Maoists.

Vidya Charan Shukla, former chief minister and union minister, who was seriously wounded in the attack, later succumbed to injuries in a hospital in Gurgaon near the national capital.