Cong Screening Panels Meet To Shortlist Candidates

The screening committees of the Congress continued their meetings on Thursday to shortlist candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

The West Bengal Screening committee headed by J.P. Agarwal met on Wednesday to discuss the names of the candidates. Party's state in-charge Jitin Prasada said, "The process of shortlisting will be completed soon."

Assam screening committee chairman Prithviraj Chavan is in Guwahati to meet the other members. He said, "I arrived in Guwahati yesterday. And immediately chaired the first meeting of the Screening Committee for finalising the Congress candidates for Assembly polls."

The other screening committees of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are also expected to finalise candidates this week.

The Central Election Committee of the Congress is expected to give a final nod soon, said sources.

The Central Election Committee headed by Sonia Gandhi is the final authority to select party candidates for the Assembly, Legislative Council and Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha polls.

However, there is no clarity in Tamil Nadu as to how many seats the Congress is going to contest in alliance with the DMK. Sources say Congress expects more than 50 seats but the DMK is not ready to give more than 25. Last time the Congress contested 41 but could not cross the double-digit in the results.

The elections to the 140-member Kerala Assembly, the 30-member Puducherry Assembly and the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly will be held in a single phase on April 6, while polling for the 126-member Assam Assembly will be held on March 27, April  1 and April 6.

The 294-member West Bengal Assembly will go to the polls in eight phases on March 27, April 1, April 6, April 10, April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.