New Delhi: The Congress will finalise some of its candidates for the Bihar assembly polls on Monday when the party's central election committee meets virtually.
The Congress Screening Committee on Bihar met here on Sunday and is learnt to have discussed the names of probable candidates for the upcoming elections in the state.
The meeting of the screening panel, headed by Avinash Pande, was attended by Congress in-charge for Bihar affairs Shakti Sinh Gohil, Bihar Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha and CLP leader Sadanand Singh among others.
The central election committee (CEC) headed by party chief Sonia Gandhi will meet on Monday to finalise some of the candidates that the screening panel will recommend.
Interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi has called the meeting at 4 pm today. Former Congress and RJD ministers will join the meeting via video conference.
Tejashwi Yadav, who was announced as the Mahagathbandhan's CM candidate, will also join the meeting from Patna.
The first list of Congress candidates is expected to be out by tonight.
"We discussed the list of probable candidates at 70 Assembly seats in Bihar. The list of candidates recommended by state Congress leaders will be presented in Congress Central Election Committee meeting," Avinash Pande, Chairman of Congress Screening Committee for Bihar Assembly polls told a news agency after the meeting of the screening panel.
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According to reports quoting sources, the party has cleared the names of all sitting MLAs whose constituency is going for polls in the first phase, where the last date of nomination is October 8. "The party is unlikely to announce candidates soon after the CEC meet as poll strategy," the sources said.
On Saturday, the opposition Grand Alliance in Bihar announced a seat-sharing formula for the upcoming assembly polls under which the Congress will contest 70 of a total 243 seats.
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The Bihar assembly polls will be held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7, and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.
The nomination process for the first phase, under which 71 of the total 243 seats will go to polls, began from October 1 and will end on October 8.
(With inputs from agencies)
