Cong to take fresh look at 30 seats

Unable to reach a consensus on candidates for about 30 seats, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has decided to take a fresh look at the claimants from these constituencies.

The decision came after a series of meetings in Delhi, conducted as part of the process to identify probable candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in December.

Rajasthan votes on December 7 along with Telangana, while results for all five states, including Chhattisgarh (November 12 and 20), Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram (both November 28) will be declared on December 11.

Congress’s state and central leaderships have conducted several surveys, including those by independent agencies, to find its suitable candidates. Additionally, the party has received reports from AICC secretaries and co-incharges, along with feedback from senior leaders.

A senior party leader, familiar with the developments at the meeting taking place either at 15 Gurudwara Rakabganj Road or at the residence of party’s screening committee chairperson Selja Kumari, said discussions on picking candidates have been held for nearly all 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan, but that the party was yet to reach a consensus on about 30 seats due to “several names” in the running.

“The leaders have therefore decided to give a relook to these

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seats in order to come up with names of winnable candidates. The state leaders are asked to again assess candidates on their winning potential, social engineering, popularity and electoral and political history of the respective seat,” the leader said, not wishing to be identified.

The leader added that members of the ‘core team’ involved in ticket finalisation process are holding long meetings – and have zeroed in on candidates on about 95-110 seats.

The screening committee, after receiving all the reports, has formed the draft panels of probable candidates.

‘Brainstorming sessions’ are going on with efforts to announce the first list of about 80 candidates by October 25, the leader cited above said.