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Crucial meeting of Congress Central Election Committee
New Delhi, Mar 13: The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress will have a crucial three-day meeting from today to finalise the second list of party candidates for the April-May Lok Sabha elections.
New Delhi, Mar 13: The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress will have a crucial three-day meeting from today to finalise the second list of party candidates for the April-May Lok Sabha elections.
The meeting, to be presided over by party president Sonia Gandhi, is expected to finalise the second list with the names of at least 100 more candidates at the end of the meeting on March 15. However, it is expected to be announced officially on March 16.
The first list of 75 candidates was announced on March 10. Congress sources told here today that the CEC would require at least one more meetings to finalise the entire list. However, sources hoped that the exercise would be complete by March 22.
The three-day meeting will essentially concentrate on states such as Kerala, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Delhi, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh which did not figure in the first list. Sources hinted that the infighting in the Kerala unit of the Congress might lead to a delay in finalising the list pertaining to that state.
Since Gandhi would have to undertake extensive tour under her ''jan sampark abhiyan'' campaign programme, the candidate finalisation exercise would not be prolonged beyond March 22, sources said.
Today's meeting of the CEC is the longest since the dissolution of the 13th Lok Sabha and the announcement of the election schedule.
The CEC had already held three sittings. In the first meeting, it did not take any decision other than the crucial one leaving it to the party president to take a final decision in regard to giving tickets to each and every sitting MPs. In the second meeting, it finalised the list of 60 candidates for Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. In the third meeting held early this week, it discussed the selection of candidates for Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and finalised 15 candidates.
Sources said the CEC would mostly rely on the lists of candidates submitted by respective PCC (I)'s and also the comments of the screening committee for candidates headed by senior leader Shivraj Patil.
Bureau Report
The first list of 75 candidates was announced on March 10. Congress sources told here today that the CEC would require at least one more meetings to finalise the entire list. However, sources hoped that the exercise would be complete by March 22.
The three-day meeting will essentially concentrate on states such as Kerala, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Delhi, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh which did not figure in the first list. Sources hinted that the infighting in the Kerala unit of the Congress might lead to a delay in finalising the list pertaining to that state.
Since Gandhi would have to undertake extensive tour under her ''jan sampark abhiyan'' campaign programme, the candidate finalisation exercise would not be prolonged beyond March 22, sources said.
Today's meeting of the CEC is the longest since the dissolution of the 13th Lok Sabha and the announcement of the election schedule.
The CEC had already held three sittings. In the first meeting, it did not take any decision other than the crucial one leaving it to the party president to take a final decision in regard to giving tickets to each and every sitting MPs. In the second meeting, it finalised the list of 60 candidates for Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. In the third meeting held early this week, it discussed the selection of candidates for Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and finalised 15 candidates.
Sources said the CEC would mostly rely on the lists of candidates submitted by respective PCC (I)'s and also the comments of the screening committee for candidates headed by senior leader Shivraj Patil.
Bureau Report