Cong to release first list of nominees
ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS Party has decided to declare candidates for 20-25 seats as soon as polls are announced; this will give them more time to reach out to people
DELHI GOES TO POLLS
Taking a leaf out of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) book, the Congress is likely to come out with the first list of candidates for the coming Delhi Assembly elections much in advance.
Sources said the party had decided to declare candidates for 20-25 seats as soon as the elections are announced. Naming candidates early will give more time to candidates to reach out to their electorate and reconnect with them, they said.
The Aam Aadmi Party is known for declaring candidates much ahead of elections. And the strategy seemed to have worked too.
In its debut election in Delhi in 2013, the party had announced its candidates on most seats when the Congress had started inviting applications from its workers who were keen on contesting.
The move gave the AAP candidates much-needed time to hold public meetings in almost every block of their respective constituencies and connect with the electorate. Despite being a political greenhorn, AAP candidates won 28 of the 70 assembly seats while the Congress could manage only eight.
The Congress is known for keeping both the electorate as well as ticket-aspirants guessing in every election and announce candidates just a day or two before the last date of filing nominations.
This time around, when the party faces the humungous task to bring the electorate — which voted the party to victory in three consecutive elections between 1998 and 2013 — back to its fold, it has decided to change its strategy.
“There are certain candidates —including some sitting legislators and some former MLAs — who are sure to get the ticket to re-contest. If their names are announced early, they will get time to go back to the constituency and have one-andone meetings with influential groups and voters,” said a senior Congress leader.
The party has decided to infuse fresh faces in electoral politics and give tickets to new candidates on 20-odd seats. The party has already started invit- ing applications from ticket aspirants. Sources said more than 300 aspirants have already collected forms from the state party office.
“Since there will be a lot of deliberation on seats where new faces will have to be tried their names will only be announced closer to the last date of nomination,” a party leader said.