New Delhi: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will on Monday review the party’s screening of candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in four states with a strong focus on winnability and commitment to party ideology.
Besides, the high command is likely to tell the screening panels to focus on social representation, give a chance to young faces wherever possible and get ground-level feedback by visiting the constituencies.
Elections for the 90-member Haryana Assembly will be held on October 1 while polls for Union Territory Jammu & Kashmir Assembly will be held on September 18, 25 and October 1. The results for both Haryana and Union Territory Jammu & Kashmir will be out on October 4. The poll dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand will be announced later.
“Party chief Kharge and LoP Rahul Gandhi called a review meeting of all the four State Screening Committees today. The main focus is on winnability, but commitment to the party is also important for potential candidates. The screening for Haryana is going on,” AICC in-charge Andhra Pradesh Manickam Tagore, who is a member of the Screening Committee in Haryana, told ETV Bharat.
The Screening Committee for Haryana is headed by AICC treasurer Ajay Maken. According to former chief minister BS Hooda, “The Congress is going strong in Haryana and is on the ground across the state.”
“The people are angry with the ruling BJP. They will teach them a lesson. The saffron party has pushed back the state in almost every field. They see the Congress as an alternative,” Hooda told ETV Bharat.
The Congress has received around 2,200 applications for the 90 seats in Haryana while the response has been similarly encouraging for the 288 seats in Maharashtra, said party insiders. The Screening Committee for Maharashtra is headed by veteran Madhusudan Mistry.
In border Union Territory Jammu & Kashmir the Congress recently appointed a new state unit chief Tariq Hameed Karra, who took charge in Srinagar on Monday, accompanied by several senior leaders.
According to party insiders, the screening of candidates has been going on in the Union Territory over the past weeks as leaders met the voters to get feedback on the manifesto. However, the screening panel headed by AICC in-charge Rajasthan SS Randhawa may also visit the Union Territory soon.
In Jharkhand also, the Congress recently appointed a new state unit chief Keshav Mahta Kalmesh, who is still receiving applications from ticket seekers for around 35 out of 81 seats that the grand old party will contest in alliance with JMM and RJD.
The Screening Committee for Jharkhand headed by AICC in-charge of Manipur Girish Chodankar has already met once and will soon visit the tribal state to get ground-level feedback.
“Our work is going on. The focus is on winnability, but we are placing value on commitment to party ideology. I don’t know about other panels, but we will certainly visit the Assembly constituencies to get ground-level feedback from workers on potential candidates,” Jharkhand Screening Committee member Prakash Joshi told ETV Bharat.
According to party insiders, a key focus of the high command would be on announcing the candidates early or at least sounding the potential ones to help them prepare the ground in the crucial state elections. “Yes, we may look at the early announcement of candidates without withholding names till the nomination day. But it is for the high command to take a call on this,” said Joshi.
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