NEW DELHI: The Congress will on October 12 decide on who will get the party ticket to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in five states. The Central Election Committee (CEC) of All India Congress Committee (AICC) will be holding a key meet in the national capital on October 12 for the elections. The elections are being held in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana.
For Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party is holding a three-day screening committee meeting in New Delhi that is likely to complete the scrutiny of potential candidates by Wednesday. The names which are finalised will be forwarded to Rahul Gandhi.
Congress which is trying to snatch Rajasthan away from the Bharatiya Janata Party has said that it will focus on fielding candidates who can win the elections. Party leader Kumari Selja had earlier said that there are several capable candidates and the selection will be a challenge. Rajasthan Congress Chief Sachin Pilot had also said that the state committee has put forth its views and the final decision will be taken by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
For the polls in Telangana, Congress formed three sub-committees which are in the process of preparing a list of three or four candidates for each constituency which will be given to the AICC Screening Committee. The party will not be naming the Chief Ministerial candidate in the state.
Telangana Assembly was dissolved on September six -- more than eight months ahead of the expiry of its term -- on the recommendation of (now) Caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who opted to go for early elections.
In Chhattisgarh, a screening committee will be meeting on Wednesday to deliberate over the names of candidates provided by the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee which will be handed over to the CEC for the final selection.
In Mizoram, which is the only Congress-ruled state in the north east, the party is yet to finalise the names despite its earlier announcement that the names would be announced on Thursday. The party's top leadership wants to axe some legislators who are either too old or did not have the chance to win, while at the same time take care to ensure that those left out were not too many so as to form a rebel lobby.
