Congress panel to finalise 1st list of candidates next week

The screening committee is headed by All India Congress Committee general secretary and former union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The Congress’s screening committee for the Maharashtra Assembly polls held its first meeting in Delhi on Thursday, in which the names of the candidates in the constituencies held by the party were discussed. The names for the 106 seats, conceded by ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), are likely to be finalised in the meeting next week.

The names for the 106 seats, conceded by ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), are likely to be finalised in the meeting next week. (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

The screening committee is headed by All India Congress Committee general secretary and former union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The screening committee comprises Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, Congress legislative party leader KC Padvi, leader of the opposition in the legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar and senior Congress leaders Harish Chaudhary and MP Manickam Tagore.

According to sources, the names of sitting MLAs were discussed, along with constituencies where the party stood second in 2014. The party has decided to renominate most of its sitting party MLAs.

“The discussion is going on for the remaining seats, which include the ones that will be conceded to smaller allies. We are going with the winning probability of candidates of both the parties while sharing and exchanging seats. It is not possible to reveal the discussion, but we expect the first list to be finalised in our next meeting on September 5. We will release our first list of candidate soon after that,” said Vijay Wadettiwar.

“Of the 42 MLAs elected to the lower house last time, four have quit the party and a few more are on the way to the ruling parties. Most of the remaining sitting MLAs will be renominated from their respective seats. There are very few MLAs that that will be replaced for various reasons. Owing to the defections, the winning prospects of the party have weakened in those constituencies. Finding replacements has become a task,” said a leader who is privy to the developments.

The screening committee has also decided to continue talks with smaller allies to arrive at the number of seats that need to be allocated to them.

The committee was also apprised of the conditions put up by the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, led by Prakash Ambedkar, and grim possibility of it joining the alliance.

Once finalised by the screening committee, the list will be finalised by Congress election committee under the party president.