The Hindu : New Delhi News : Congress starts selection process for poll candidates

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Thursday, Jul 03, 2008
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New Delhi

Congress starts selection process for poll candidates

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI: The Congress in Delhi has started the process of identifying the best suited candidates for party tickets for the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president J. P. Agarwal said on Wednesday that the process had been set rolling with the visit of 12 teams to the party districts across the Capital. Each team, he said, comprised a general secretary or a vice-president of the DPCC, a former Mayor or a former Delhi Youth Congress president, and a former Member of Parliament or a senior Congress leader.

These teams would visit the districts and cover all the Assembly segments falling within them. From every Assembly segment they would suggest a maximum of three names.

Mr. Agarwal said these 12 teams would submit their list of the best candidates for all the 70 Delhi Assembly seats to the DPCC latest by July 15.

Thereafter the Coordination Committee of the Congress that has been converted into Pradesh Election Committee would go through these names and discuss the merits of each case. While insisting that it was almost 100 per cent certain that the best candidates would figure in the list and priority would be given to local residents, Mr. Agarwal said the option of new names being included at a later stage would remain open. The Pradesh Election Committee would then send the list of the candidates selected by it following detailed discussion to the Screening Committee that would be constituted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The final list of candidates is expected to be prepared only after discussions between the members of the Screening Committee and the Pradesh Election Committee.

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