Congress discusses possible candidates for Gujarat polls

Top Congress leaders today discussed possible candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections which the party said would be declared in a day or two.

The party sources said the Congress leaders, at a meeting of its Central Election Committee chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, discussed candidates for all the 182 Assembly seats but refrained from announcing any names.

Congress general secretary in-charge for Gujarat Ashok Gehlot later told reporters that though all the candidates have been discussed, the party was yet to discuss the seatsharing arrangements with its possible allies with whom it was yet to finalise its discussions.

He said the list would be declared in a day or two.

The sources said the party is in talks with the JD-U faction led by Sharad Yadav and the Nationalist Congress Party.

The Congress is also seeking to make some arrangements with Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, and Alpesh Thakor, with whom it is seeking to share some seats.

The Congress is seeking to wrest power from the BJP in Gujarat after being in the political wilderness for over two decades now.

The sources said the Congress CEC has already discussed some candidates for the first phase of the elections for 89 seats in its meeting last week, but has not declared any candidate so far.

The process of nomination for the first phase of election for 89 seats in Gujarat has already started with the issue of notification on November 14.

The last date for filing of nominations is on November 21.

The election process for the second phase of polling on December 14 starts on November 20 with the issue of notification.

The votes will be counted on December 18, along with those of Himachal Pradesh, where elections were held on November 9.

The BJP has already declared its first list of candidates today.