Congress to hold meeting today to finalise candidates for WB, Assam Assembly polls

In West Bengal, Congress is in a pre-poll alliance with Left parties and the newly floated Indian Secular Front (ISF) by Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui. Meanwhile, 92 seats have been finalised for Congress in the alliance.

New Delhi: The first meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of Congress is likely to be held here on Saturday to finalise the names of candidates for the first two phases of the West Bengal and Assam Assembly polls.

The meeting will be held via video-conferencing. Senior leaders of the party and leaders of Congress's West Bengal and Assam units will also participate in the meeting.

In West Bengal, Congress is in a pre-poll alliance with Left parties and the newly floated Indian Secular Front (ISF) by Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui. Meanwhile, 92 seats have been finalised for Congress in the alliance.

The alliance had on Friday announced the names of constituencies from where each party will contest for the first two phases of the assembly election in West Bengal. The consensus on some seats is yet to be arrived at by the alliance partners. The Left Front also announced the names of candidates for the seats allotted to it.

In Assam, Congress has joined hands with Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF, left parties and Bodoland People's Front (BPF) to form the "grand alliance". The seat distribution is yet to be announced.

West Bengal Assembly elections for 294 seats will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29.

On the other hand, Assam Assembly elections will be held in three phases. In the first phase, 47 seats in 12 districts will go to the polls on March 27. In the second phase, 39 constituencies in 13 districts will go to the polls on April 1 while 40 assembly constituencies in 12 districts to go on polls on April 6.

The counting of votes in both states will take place on May 2.

(ANI)