Thiruvananthapuram | Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan on Friday alleged that a section of media spread false news about the Congress' candidate selection process at the behest of the CPI(M).

A day after the media reports about uncertainty with regard to the candidature of Congress MPs K Sudhakaran and Adoor Prakash, Satheesan said that such news would not stop the party from winning the upcoming assembly polls.

He also said that a plethora of false news was spread by some media outlets about the candidate selection by the Congress for the assembly polls to be held on April 9.

"These news reports were aired without speaking to the concerned persons and even before the Congress held any discussions regarding the candidature of those leaders. It was unfortunate that some mainstream media also took up such reports.

"Such news is being run at the behest of the AKG Centre (CPI(M) Kerala headquarters). But it will not hinder our chances of winning. The UDF will win over 100 seats in the assembly polls," the opposition leader told reporters here.

He said that both Sudhakaran and Prakash have clearly stated that the party is bigger than them.

Satheesan also reiterated that there was no delay in candidate selection by the Congress.

He said that the process started late and not within 24 hours, as asserted by him earlier, because the chairman of the screening committee was unwell.

Congress, which is contesting in 92 seats, released the first list of 55 candidates on March 17 and the second list of remaining 37 names on Thursday.

Besides that, Congress has given three of its seats to former CPI(M) leaders who left their party and will be contesting as independent candidates with the support of the grand old party