New Delhi: After faulty ticket distribution surfaced as a key reason behind the losses in the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls, the Congress managers decided to go through the list of potential candidates in Maharashtra and Jharkhand with a fine comb.
The Congress had hoped to form a government in Haryana but got only 37 out of 90 seats, nine short of a simple majority against the 48 of BJP.
According to party insiders, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had insisted that tickets be given to all the sitting 25 MLAs belonging to his camp while four sitting MLAs from the camp of senior leader Kumari Selja had also been given tickets. Out of these, as many as 16 sitting MLAs lost the elections.
Though there were no sitting Congress MLAs in Jammu and Kashmir, the story was pretty much the same in the border UT where the grand old party got 32 out of 90 seats as part of the INDIA bloc but could win only six seats in the Jammu region where its main rival was the BJP.
In both places, the rebels, who contested as independents, cost the Congress dear, said party insiders. The recent shockers in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir have alerted the Congress managers, who are preparing hard for the coming contests in Maharashtra and Jharkhand where the grand old party has existing alliances with Shiv Sena UBT and NCP (Sharachandra Pawar) and JMM and RJD respectively.
Accordingly, party insiders said while the main focus in the two poll-bound states would be on the winnability factor, consensus among the state and central leaders, social engineering and a preference to hardcore workers on the ground would be given in finalising the tickets.
"The result in Haryana would not have an impact on the Maharashtra elections as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is very strong there. The main focus of ticket distribution would be on the winnability, loyalty and caste equations of the applicants. Preference will be given to strong ground-level workers," All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary-in-charge of Maharashtra BM Sandeep told ETV Bharat.
The Congress is likely to contest over 100 out of 288 seats in the western state as part of the MVA.
"The shortlisting of names for Jharkhand would start soon as the relevant panels have been formed and the poll dates are awaited. Usually, ticket distribution is a tricky process. All due diligence is done before names are finalised but if the party loses an election, there are bound to be questions over the process," AICC secretary in charge of Jharkhand Saptagiri Ulaka told ETV Bharat.
According to Ulaka, while performance reviews of the sitting lawmakers would be submitted before the high command along with suitable recommendations, the final call on whether to field a sitting MLA or not would be taken by the Central Election Committee (CEC).
The Congress had contested 31 out of 82 seats in Jharkhand in 2019 and would get around the same number as part of an alliance with JMM and RJD this time as well.
