Cong screening panel against giving ticket to 2-time losers
Also discussed proposal to not field more than one member in a family
CHANDIGARH: The Congress screening committee on Saturday held its first meeting to shortlist the candidates for the upcoming Haryana assembly polls in Delhi. Committee members were of the view that those who have lost the election twice in a row by a huge margin may not be given the party ticket.
The meeting was attended by AICC general secretary, Haryana’s in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad and members party’s Haryana president Kumari Selja, Congress legislature party (CLP) leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Madhusudan Mistry, Devender Yadav and Deepa Dasmunsi.
The committee also discussed a proposal to deny party ticket to more than one member in a family as there were several candidates who sought ticket for themselves as well as their family members.
Sources privy to the discussion at the meeting said that even though detailed discussions were held on the two issues, besides shortlisting of candidates for all the 90 seats in the state, there seemed to be an agreement on the ground rule that a ticket should not be given to a candidate losing twice or more in a row or with a huge margin.
However, a final decision on both the issues will be taken by the party’s central election committee headed by Sonia Gandhi, who will also take the final call on all the candidates, likely by October 1 as the filing of nominations ends on October 4.
Earlier on Thursday, the members of the Haryana Congress election committee had unanimously espoused party ticket for all the 17 sitting MLAs for the upcoming assembly elections scheduled for October 21.
Congress had won 15 seats in the 2014 assembly elections though its number rose to 17 after both Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) MLAs Kuldeep Bishnoi (MLA from Adampur) and his wife Renuka (Hansi) joined the Congress and merged the party into the grand old party.
FINAL DECISION ON BOTH THE ISSUES WILL BE TAKEN BY PARTY’S CENTRAL ELECTION COMMITTEE HEADED BY SONIA GANDHI