NEW DELHI: The Congress screening committee on Monday began the candidate selection process for the first phase of the April-May Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Party sources said the committee that includes senior leader R.K. Dhawan, general secretaries Ashok Gehlot and V. Narayanswamy, pradesh Congress Chief Salman Khursheed and Congress legislature party leader Pramod Tiwari had a meeting with R.P.N. Singh, who is in charge of the Agra-Kanpur zone.

The committee's composition would remain the same barring those in charge of the zones who will rotate according to their assigned areas. Last year, the Congress appointed eight persons who were in charge of the zones in the run-up to the 2007 Assembly polls.

It is understood that the screening committee scrutinised the candidates for the 62 seats, polling for which will be held on April 7. March 20 is the last date for filing of nominations.

The committee went through the task amid reports that the Congress was holding talks with the Jan Morcha for an understanding. Of the 62 seats, the Jan Morcha too has a strong claim on a number of seats, including areas around Agra.

Talks with RLD

The talks with Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal appear not to have much headway. Sources suggest that the Congress would prefer to contest about 90 of the 130 or so seats in Western U.P., considered the RLD's stronghold.

The RLD has been seeking more seats for itself based on performance in the 2002 Assembly elections and the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

One calculation suggests that the Congress candidates lost their deposits in 106 of the 139 seats it contested on its own and the sum total of votes in polled in Assembly segments of the Lok Sabha was far less than the RLD.

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