The Congress on Sunday released a list of 218 candidates for the May 12 assembly elections in Karnataka with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah set to contest from Chamundeshwari.

The list of Congress candidates was delayed after differences cropped up among members of the party's central election committee (CEC) which met on Friday in Delhi.

The state has 224 constituencies which will go to polls on May 12. The counting will take place on May 15.

The campaigning for the Assembly polls is in full swing with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and BJP president Amit Shah making multiple trips to the state.

Karnataka is witnessing a three-corner contest among the Congress, BJP and the H D Deve Gowda-led JD (S).

The Indian National Congress has selected these candidates for the election to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka. ಈ ಸಲ ಕಪ್ ನಮ್ದೆ!#INC4Karnataka (1/2) pic.twitter.com/szcfsnZVRB — Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) April 15, 2018

The Indian National Congress has selected these candidates for the election to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka. ಈ ಸಲ ಕಪ್ ನಮ್ದೆ!#INC4Karnataka (2/2) pic.twitter.com/uyq3YAcAUP — Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) April 15, 2018

On Friday, the Congress CEC met to discuss candidate selection but could not arrive at a consensus and decided to meet again.

The differences were apparent as each of the senior party leaders from the state were carrying their own separate lists of candidates for approval.

The deliberations were also centered around the grant of party tickets to family members of Chief Minister Siddharamaiah and state unit chief G Parameswara and some senior ministers.

The sources also said that the KPCC chief G Parameshwara has sought two tickets -- one from the Koratagere constituency in Tumkur district, the seat that he had lost in 2013, and the other is the Pulakeshinagar constituency in Bengaluru, from where JD(S) MLA joined the Congress recently.

Siddaramaiah wanted to contest from two seats, one from his old Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysore district and the other Badami in Bagalkote district, sources said.

(With PTI inputs)